Definitely Here
by Miqila
Summary: Sequel to Air: If there's something I want from my life, it's to make an impact. To have people know that I existed. Well, I also want to know what my friend Mitarai is hiding. What is in those documents he doesn't want me to see? Who exactly is this weird girl called Botan? Turns out I shouldn't have been so nosy; now I'm stuck working with a grim reaper.
1. Chapter 1

**A.N: Hello. I just want to point out that this is a sequel to my one shot called "Air" that I published in 2011 and will make a lot more sense if you read it, too, but if you do, remember that it's really old so it has quite a few grammar mistakes and the plot itself could be called a little cliché.**

 **Anyway, I'm writing this now since a while ago I read this one KuramaXOC fic that more or less follows the canon story line, but in that fic the OC killed Mitarai. So, after reading that I felt like reading Mitarai fics and started with my own old one, which I had avoided for years since I thought it was really bad. However, it turned out not to be as bad as I remembered and it inspired me to start this. So, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho.**

 **Chapter 1**

First day of college should probably make a person feel very grown up, but honestly, I didn't. I felt like an adult when I entered high school, yet noticed quickly that everyone were still brats and, after some time, I realized I wasn't exactly what one would call mature, either. And that's why I don't think too much of myself for just being a college student, either. I have diffidently matured a little since my high school days but, in all honesty I think that after few years I'll look back in to this day and realize how much of a brat I still was. Or at least that's what I think. Still, that does not change the fact that I, Takanishi Yuri, am now a college student. It's funny, for I have not changed much since high school. I'm only 157 cm tall and, while I'm no longer overweight, I'm not someone one would consider a model. My hair is ordinary, black, straight and reaching the middle of my back, and my eyes are brown. I'm normal, _average,_ part of the mass. Not that I really consider it a bad thing, but normal people rarely leave a lasting impact on others. That was something I wanted to do, to leave a proof that I exist, that I am _definitely here_.

...Would you call that a weird goal or something completely normal? Not that I care; it's what I want and if someone doesn't like it that's their problem. Not that I really have experience on leaving an impact on people; in high school I had a full job with keeping myself from being treated like air... which went pretty well after changing schools, but that's another story entirely. Now I'm over all the bullying and stuff, so it's time to make something of my life.

Hopefully anyway.

Instinctively, I turn my head towards a familiar voice, freezing when I see the person's face. Usui Kyo.

I turned away, walking to the other direction with rapid speed. I might be over all the bullying, mostly at least, but that didn't mean I was ready to face those who tormented me the most, especially not him. Hopefully, he'd be the only one of them going to this school.

" _Calm down"_ I chanted to myself. I've gotten over it, and if something happened again I wouldn't be helpless. I've taken self defense classes; I can take care of myself. Even so, I still shrieked rather loudly when someone put a hand on my shoulder. Spinning around, I was ready to punch the person before I realized who it was. Mitarai, a guy from my old school.

"Easy there, Takanishi. It's just me" he said, raising his hands up. Despite having gone to the same high school as I did first, I considered him as a friend... or something similar, at least. He was easy to get along with after all, but his friends were not. And the guy had a lot of them; he was quite popular.

"Don't do that" I hissed at him, ignoring the stares we were getting because of my shriek. Mitarai smiled awkwardly at the people who were watching us before turning his attention back to me.

"What makes you so jumpy?" he asked. I hesitated, should I tell him? He knew that Usui had picked on me in high school, but he didn't know any details and I wanted to keep it that way. Still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to mention it. That way Mitarai could have my back if I needed help; I know he will if the need comes, simply because he's a good guy and always ready to help, even if we had such a rough start in our... sort of friendship.

"Usui is here, in this school" I told him. I saw the smile leave his face and he frowned. From what I've understood, when Mitarai stopped trying to be Mister Popular and started to stand up for others publicly, he had a few squabbles with Usui as well. He had also lost some of his so called friends, but overall he had been fine... or at least so he said. He had lost his position as "everyone's favorite", but so many people stayed by his side that he didn't become a target himself. He hadn't exactly said so, but since he hadn't been bullied that was probably the case.

"Earth to Takanishi, does Takanishi hear?" I snapped out of my thoughts when I noticed Mitarai waiving his hand in front of my face, calling my name. I blushed; I can't believe I zoned out like that!

"Yeah, I hear you" I said "What were you saying again?"

"Just that if Usui, or anyone else for that matter, bothers you come to tell me and we can figure something out" he assured "Okay?"

"Yeah sure" I said dismissively "But I'm pretty sure I can handle things on my own. Thanks though."

After that we went our separate ways, having no classes together. We did however see each other at lunch again and sat at the same table. Or well, he was already sitting there and I decided to join him. He was reading something, probably something from class.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Nothing" he said, quickly putting the paper back to his bag. A bit too quickly in fact, it was like he didn't want me to see it. Now, this wasn't the first time he did that. From time to time I caught him reading something he always hastily put away, talking quietly in the phone with someone, disappearing for a few days with his mom simply saying he was with friends... and then there was this one time that I visited his house. He wasn't home yet, but his mom let me in and told me to wait in his room, so I did. I noticed there was something hidden under his pillow and got curious. (Nosy? Who me?) So I took it out and it turned out to be a videotape. Mitarai has a TV and a VCR in his room, but before I could even think about checking what was on it he came home. The look on his face when he saw me with the tape was a priceless one, if not a little worrisome. He looked horrified, like I had witnessed something really bad. However, he calmed down quickly when he found out I hadn't seen it, so he just put it away and we never talked about it again. I kind of wanted to know what had made him react like that, but maybe it was for the better that I didn't know? After all, that look he had on his face back then...

"Earth to Takanishi" I suddenly heard Mitarai say "Again."

"Sorry" I said, turning to my attention to my food. However, I could feel Mitarai's eyes on me. Any moment now...

"Is everything okay?" he asked. Hah, knew it "You've been spacing out a lot today."

"Only twice" I corrected. That wasn't much.

"Only twice that I've witnessed it" Mitarai corrected, much to my annoyance "You've been doing that a lot recently; are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

"I'm fine; I've just had a lot on my mine recently" I told him, and it was true, but I didn't want to tell him the details; he already knew so much about me to the point that it was awkward. He didn't need to know about what had happened in the self defense class. It had been a normal day, really. While our classes mostly concentrated around techniques of using an attacker's own strength and size against them and other stuff clearly meant for defense, we were encouraged to get stronger and raise our stamina too, in case our techniques didn't work. Anyway, last week I had been practicing with a punching bag, and out of nowhere I hit a _literal hole_ in it! And I'm not kidding; but I thought my hand had _glowed_ when I did that... but no matter how much I think about it there's no logical explanation for it, so it was probably just a trick of light. And the punching bag was old, or so they said, so that explained why it broke like that. Still, I just couldn't get that glow off of my mind... Suddenly I blinked, looking at Mitarai who was watching _me_ with a raised eyebrow. Oh god, I spaced out again!

"...Did you say something?"

"No" Mitarai told me "I was about to, but it looked like you were about to space out again. And I was right."

"Right..." I muttered with a sigh "So, what were you about to say?"

"I just wanted to know what exactly you have in mind so much that you space out like this" he said "Well?"

I sighed, but fortunately I knew how to get out of this situation.

"I'll tell you if you tell me what you were reading just now" I told him, knowing that he wouldn't say anything and therefore I wouldn't have to either.

"Just some... stuff." And what do you know, I was right.

"Yeah, I have some stuff too" I shot back with a rather irritated voice, making Mitarai flinch. Now that was something I hadn't caused in quite a while; these days almost nothing I said could get to him. We sat the rest of the lunch in silence, which probably meant that I had ruined the mood... not that it was entirely my fault; he was obviously keeping secrets from me and treated me like a fool who wouldn't notice.

XXXXX

Home at last. Not that the first day of school had been exhausting or anything, but the exchange with Mitarai left me with a bad taste.

"I'm home" I called out. Mom only has a part time job and didn't usually have night shifts so she should be home by now.

"Welcome back" mom called from the kitchen. I went over there too because I wanted a glass of juice "How was school? Any familiar faces?"

She was clearly trying to be subtle about asking if Moku or the like were there... well, there's really no reason to tell her about Usui. I can handle him these days.

"Fine, a few" I answered. As an afterthought I added so that she wouldn't press for more information: "You know, Mitarai and the like."

"I see" something in my mother's tone told me she wasn't finished "You know, Yuri..."

"Yeah?"

"How come you still call little Kiyoshi by his last name? You've been friends for quite a while now..."

Ah rats, I should've known she'd ask that. What could I tell her? I didn't really even have a reason!

"...Just because we spend a lot of time together doesn't mean we're close." I told her. I mean that was true; he knew something about me that no one else did, but aside from that we didn't really talk about personal matters much, just ordinary things like school, movies etc. Plus, he was definitely hiding something big from me. Or at the very least something he considered to be big... maybe the tape I found just had some porn on it or something.

"-ney... Honey!" I snapped out of my thoughts thanks to mom's voice. Crap, did I- "You spaced out again."

Right; this had pretty much become a habit by now.

"Sorry" I apologized, looking away from her "Did you say something?"

"Just that you should ask Kiyoshi to come visit us again soon; it's been a while since we've seen him" oh God I knew that look on her face "Your dad approves of him, too."

My mom was a freaking shipper, I'm telling you. I don't know why, but she had somehow gotten the idea that Mitarai and I would be a good match. And somehow she had gotten dad in to it, too.

"Whatever" I said, wanting to end the conversation there. It wasn't that I didn't like Mitarai; I just liked him as a _person_ , not as a _man_... not that I have ever even considered him that way. Chucking the guy out of my head, I went to get the juice I came for in the first place. I've had my share of the blonde for the day.

 **A.N: There's the first chapter. I have a general idea where I want to take this story, but since I haven't planned out all the details the updates might take some time. I'll try not to be unreasonably slow, though.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N: Happy Mitarai's Birthday everyone! :)**

 **Warning: Some angsty teen stuff in here...**

 **Chapter 2**

I was almost late from school today, on my second day. I had forgotten to set the alarm. Getting to my first lecture hall, I hastily sat down at the first free spot I saw that wasn't in the front of the room; the professor would come in any moment now. I didn't like to sit in the front rows; it just made me wonder what everyone sitting behind me was prepared to do. Throw paper balls at me? Put chewing gum in my hair? Don't call me paranoid; that has happened before. Not that I believed to something like that to happen here, at least not before people here learned to know each other a little better... unless I accidentally sat in front of someone I already knew. That would suck.

The professor came in and started his lecture. The subject of the lesson was one I was not too familiar with, so I had to pay close attention to what was said. I couldn't afford to space out... not that that happened often in lessons; it was mostly when I was supposed to be talking to people, most of the time mom or Mitarai. And-

...

Oh for God's sake, I'm starting to space out again! Focus, gotta focus! I shook my head slightly, moving my attention to the professor. I wouldn't space out again.

XXXXX

I had managed to focus on the lectures and now it was lunch time. I made it to the cafeteria before Mitarai, so I just picked a table in the corner of the room. Let's see if he'll join me. As I ate I went over my schedule for the day in my mind: school finishes at three, so from there I'll have three hours before my self defense class starts, but I could go there a little early... it ends at eight, so after that I better go straight home and study... but what to do after school? I don't need to go home; I have a change of clothes with me so... maybe I should go to the library and start studying? Not that much studying was needed yet since this was only the second day of school, but a head start wouldn't hurt. I could even try to drag Mitarai along-

...

...Speaking of which, just how long has he been sitting there? I could see him from the corner of my eye now, sitting at my table, looking at me with an amused smile. Frowning, I asked: "How long have you been sitting there?"

"A while already" he simply answered "Are you going to answer my question?"

My eyebrow twitched. I had been spacing out so there was no chance that I'd know what he had asked. He _knew_ that and was still pressing for answer. Freaking asshole... well, maybe it's partly my fault; after all he hasn't always been like this. He has simply picked up a habit or two from me. Why did I bitch at him so much during our last summer vacation? That was when he really started to learn to make comebacks and muster enough courage to make fun of people... oh yeah, it's because I had been too annoyed with his constant disappearing. Well, not really disappearing; his mom had said that he was with friends and that's what he said too once he decided to show up again. But the main problem was that when he did this I had no way of contacting him. I also didn't know _where_ he went and with _who_. If I asked he always answered with "We haven't decided on the exact place yet" and "You don't know them." And of course, he never, not even once, invited me to go with him. I know he has his own friends and that I can't know everything about him, but would it hurt to give proper answers for once? Now that I think about it, maybe these little trips of his had something to do with whatever else he has been hiding...

"...-nishi... Takanishi!" I jolted at hearing at hearing my name being called. Turning my attention to Mitarai, I saw a worried look on his face.

"You spaced out again" he said. Well, obviously that was the case "Are you sure you're okay? Shouldn't you go and see a doctor?"

"Mom already dragged me to see a few, but they didn't find anything wrong" I said with a sigh. From the look Mitarai was giving me I knew that he wasn't sure if I was telling the truth and would definitely check it with my mom later. Wanting to change the subject, I ask: "So, what was that question of yours?"

He looked like he wanted to argue with me, but in the end decided not to do so and asked instead: "Were you in a hurry this morning?"

I raised an eyebrow at that, wondering how he found out. Couldn't be my hair; I brushed it on my way here, of that much I was sure.

"Yeah, I almost slept in" I confessed "Why?"

"Your shirt is upside down" he told me. Blinking, I looked down to see he was right. Thankfully it was just my t-shirt that was under my blouse so one wouldn't notice unless they looked closely; only a small part was visible from the rather open blouse. One thing I like about college was that we had no school uniforms, after all.

"Looks like it" I said, shrugging. It wasn't important "I'll just fix it in the bathroom later."

We both turned our attention to our food, but that didn't last long since we heard a weird beeping sound. A sound I had heard a few times before. I watched as Mitarai took out what looked like a pocket mirror, but was apparently some kind of beeper or something. Just like I expected he stood up, saying: "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. See ya" I said dismissively, having learned long ago that when this happened he'd usually disappear for a day or two. Or more. It was all connected; usually when he got one of those secret documents of his he'd disappear for a while a day or two afterwards. I seriously hoped he wasn't involved in anything illegal; that thought has come to my mind more and more recently. Maybe their family was short on money? ...Nah, his mom was a house wife; if they were short on money she would've gotten a part time job by now. Was he being black mailed? That was possible... ugh no, I'm thinking too much in to this. It's probably a no big deal, whatever it is, but he's just too embarrassed or something to tell me. Like maybe he has a girlfriend his parents don't approve of and he's afraid that I won't, either?

...

Yeah right, Mitarai having a girlfriend? No way, just no way. I mean he was popular and all, but there was just no way he could've been able to hide a thing like that from me for so long, that's why I can't believe it. He's the type of guy who'd let it show on his face if he was in love, no matter if he liked it or not. But maybe he had some _friends_ his parents didn't approve of? Like some kind of delinquents? That was at least more believable than the other options I've come up with...

Well, whatever. As long as I was patient I'd get a chance to find out sooner or later. For now I'd have to go fix my shirt before the next lecture started.

XXXXX

In the end I did go to the library before my self defense class, but didn't really get any studying done. First I couldn't focus, so I just went through some romance novels, ending up borrowing a few. I wasn't exactly a fan of those; I didn't believe in love at the first sight, soul mates, undying love or any of that. I was just interested in how characters that are portrayed as completely logical and level headed at first can become the materializations of the exact opposite when they fall in love. One could say that that only happens in crappy novels, but _I'd_ seen it happen often. And other people had, too, why else would there be so many books about it? And why would people continue writing about it?

...Now that I think of it, maybe this will count as studying psychology? Or philosophy? ...Nah, psychology is definitely closer.

Now with my class over, I was heading home. I wasn't exactly in a hurry, but since I was tired I thought I'd take a shortcut through the park... does this sound like a start of a cliché horror story? Well, I can tell you that nothing like that happened. Instead, we get a scene that is like from a really bad soap opera. From behind a tree I could see Usui in the park with a girl, still a high school student if the uniform was anything to go by. A student from my old school to be exact. They seemed to be having fun; smiling and laughing at each other. I couldn't hear exactly what they were talking about, but that didn't matter. I kept following them with my eyes for who knows how long, taking notice of even a smallest action. I only averted my eyes when they left; feeling like it had been a good while since I last even blinked. I shut my eyes. It just wasn't fair; why did he seem so happy? Why did he get to be happy? It was wrong, for a man like him to lead a happy life. I was just one of his victims; who knew how many of them he had?! The world would be a better place without him!

When they finally left I took deep breaths, trying to calm myself. Anger, even if it was tightly bottled up inside of you, was bad for health, or so my father said. I failed to calm down, so I did the next best thing: I decided to let the anger out. Taking a deep breath, I pulled my arm back and hit a nearby tree with all my strength. The sound it let out was loud, much louder than I expected, and even if my hand now hurt quite a bit the punch did its job... sort of.

"I'm calm now, I'm calm..." I muttered, trying to get a control over my feelings. Soon my anger turned to confusion as I heard a loud series of cracks. Subconsciously, I turned my head to the tree, seeing a huge crack where I had punched, and it was getting bigger. Lot bigger. Eventually, the tree trunk broke under pressure and the tree snapped, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Shocked, I stared at the tree. Was that even possible? That tree had to be at least fifty years old; one punch shouldn't be able to break something like that! Was it rotten? It looked healthy, but I wasn't an expert so yeah, that had to be it. I mean there really is no way I could've-

My mind went blank as I finally moved my gaze away from the tree, only to see the hand I had used to punch it, glowing. _Freaking glowing!_ This time I knew I wasn't imagining it; there was definitely something weird about my hand. I touched it with my left, normal hand. My right hand felt a little warmer than usually but other than that it didn't feel any different. I moved my fingers, first one at a time and then all at once, but they all worked normally... at least I didn't break anything with the punch. Well, any part of me, that is. The tree wasn't so lucky. I shook my hand, trying to get the glow to disappear, but it was no use. I was on verge of panicking; what if it wouldn't go away? What if someone saw!?

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. If there was a way to turn my hand back to normal, I wouldn't find it if I panicked. I had to calm down. Everything would be okay; the glow had come and gone once before, too, so there was no reason it wouldn't disappear now, too. But it did take less time for it to stop last time... no no, I can't think like that. Think... the punch was stronger this time, so maybe that was a reason why the glow took so much time to disappear now? Could that be how this worked? ...What this even was? It could be some kind of magic like in those fantasy shows, but if magic was really possible someone else would've discovered it by now, right? Or had they and just kept it a secret? That could be it; even in all movies a character with a sudden special power always tries to hide it! Maybe they're based off on reality somehow?

Suddenly, I noticed that my hand didn't feel so warm anymore. I opened my eyes and looked down, only to see that the glow was gone. Thank God. I glanced at the fallen tree; it could be bad if someone saw me here. In fact, someone might have a heard it falling. It was better for me to get out of here... but this was just the beginning. I'd find out what had just happened.

I definitely would.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I ran all the way home. Just a few years ago I couldn't have even imagined I'd have the stamina for that, but now it was easy. Sure I was sweating and breathing heavily, but I was still able to open the door and go up the stairs normally when I got home. Well, I did have to stop at few red lights so maybe that helped. In any case I was happy that unlike the university, the self defense classes were close to my home; I couldn't have handled traveling in a train full of people after what had happened. Luckily the glow hadn't returned.

After throwing my bag somewhere, I didn't really pay mind to where it landed, I collapsed on my bed. I had planned on studying, but there was too much on my mind to do that now. Well, that and the fact that I was exhausted from running. As much as I wanted to find out what the glow was about, there was no way for me to find any information right now. It'd be best to just go to sleep and go to the library tomorrow to look in to it.

XXXXX

Lunch break. As I expected, Mitarai wasn't there. It had been unlikely to begin with; I hadn't seen him in the morning, either. Still, I was a bit disappointed; a distraction would have been welcomed. All I have been able to think about since last night was that glow and I really wanted to take a break about it since I wouldn't be able to really do anything before I got to the library.

"Well, look who's here" okay, I'll take that back. Even if I wanted a distraction it wasn't worth it to have to deal with _her_. Looks like Natsuyama Hatsumomo, the empty headed bitch, had made it to this school too. Was this place really so easy to get in to?

"What do you want, Hatsumomo?" we had never been friends, but everyone had always called her by first name in high school and it kind of stuck on me too. She was currently with two other girls, who were dressed in identical light pink colored dresses. They both had brown hair, one a little lighter shade than the other, but both had their hair open with only few clips in them and they reached a bit past their shoulders. Seriously, those two were almost identical. Was there a point in dressing in such a way? At least Hatsumomo's outfit was different... sort of. Her dress was bright pink instead of light and much shorter. Her hair was about as pitch black as mine, and reached the middle of her back. Still, I had a feeling mine was a little longer. They kind of reminded me of those little diva groups one would see in cartoons meant for girls in their early teens. And so far, they seemed to act like them, too.

"Takanishi!"

"What?" I asked. Why was she suddenly calling my na-

...

Oh right; I must've spaced out again. Awkward.

"I _said_ how did someone with your low intelligence get in to this school?" Hatsumomo asked. Still a brat I see.

"Easier than you did with your even lower one" I replied easily, walking to my usual table. I didn't hear Hatsumomo say anything back, and this time I was sure I wasn't spacing out either. Score! She may have bullied me in high school, but that didn't mean I was afraid of her: all she'd ever done could be counted as regular bitching of an annoying teen after all. Nothing I couldn't handle, as annoying as it had been.

Now I just had to hope that she was no longer in touch with Usui and wouldn't tell him that she saw me.

XXXXX

After the school was finally over, I went straight to the library. Soon enough, I ran in to a problem: just what kind of book was I looking for actually? Myths about magic? Theories about the existence of super natural things? Those were the ones that had come to my mind during the day, but first of all this library was huge; where could I find them? How could I tell apart books that might have some actual information instead of just being complete hoaxes? ...This was not going to be easy. Well, I better get to work, for this might take a while.

I did get a few books, but I wasn't too convinced that any of them would be of use. As I carried them to a table in the corner, I went through the titles again. First, I had "Magic for Beginners" from a foreigner author. Most likely a hoax or just simple party tricks, but I thought I could still take a look at it. Then, there was "Witch Hunt in Europe." I had already checked it out a bit and come to the conclusion that maybe the ways that were used to recognize a witch would help. I mean after seeing my hand glow the way it did, I wouldn't think of it as impossible if I was some kind of witch or something. There was also one thick book simply titled "The Unexplained" that, according to the back cover, told about different unexplained sightings all over the world. Lastly, there was "The Priestesses of Japan." I took it without really even looking at it; the chance that this was some kind of spiritual power also existed. You know the kind that priests and priestesses use to fend of demons and such in old stories.

I started with Magic for Beginners, but like I had thought it was mostly party tricks, so I put it aside pretty fast. Next was Witch Hunt in Europe, and while it didn't really tell much it was at least more interesting than the first one. It was mostly historical facts about people who had been accused of witchcraft and the people after them. There was also information on how people had identified a witch and how to get rid of them, but what I was really looking for were the eyewitness reports about people practicing sorcery. Surprisingly, there was very little mention of any kind of staffs or wands like in movies. The reports were mostly about weird, glowing lights and odd smelling potions, but the later didn't interest me. The glowing lights were what I was looking for. There was a mention of a woman who had been executed for witchcraft by burning. According to eyewitness reports, she had brought someone back from the verge of death with her glowing hands. Sounds so unreal, but after yesterday I just might believe that something like that happened. Maybe I could do that, too? As in some kind of healing spell?

...Maybe not; judging from yesterday my power seemed to be one of destruction more than creation... but well, who knows? I certainly don't, maybe I'll be able to do amazing things once I get a better hang of this? ...okay, I'm getting too carried away. I don't even know how to make my hand glow at will. Yet. I'll definitely learn it.

It was also mentioned that the witches were often seen with odd creatures, presumably demons. Huh, could it be that they really existed? Or still do? I had never really believed in anything supernatural, but after yesterday I decided to keep an open mind. The idea of demons does sound a bit scary, but it'd be so cool if they actually existed.

...I'm getting overly exited again; I need to focus on the task at hand. The only problem was that the library would be closing soon. I'm gonna take the books home, with the exception of "Magic for Beginners"; that one was useless. I had pretty much read "Witch Hunt in Europe" already and taken notes, but I'm gonna take that too, just in case. I'll start reading "The Unexplained" once I get home; I feel like I might really get something out of it.

XXXXX

Once at home, I started reading the third book. It told about odd occurrences that no science or common sense could explain, but that had been written off as gibberish since only evidence there was had been what so called eyewitnesses told. Not that I blamed the people who called them liars; some of these things were really unbelievable. I mean, a monster made of water rising out of a river, having a girl inside of it? Apparently that had been the last add to the book before it was published; it was fairly new, too. According to an eyewitness he had taken a picture, but the film had gotten wet. Coincidence? I kind of wanted to believe this story, but it was a bit too convenient for the so called eyewitness.

What was more interesting was a story from around four years ago, of how a young boy got hit by car and died. Or at least he should have died; apparently, he was still alive. I don't know if it was true or not, but according to this people had held funeral and all for him and those attending had _seen_ him in the coffin. Despite that, some weeks after he returned to school like nothing had happened. If he had been sick or something it would've been easier to find a logical explanation, but the guy got hit by a freaking car! How could someone be mistaken to be dead after that? It would be easy to say it had been a hoax; that such a thing hadn't occurred at all, but the problem was that there were many eyewitnesses. Many people had seen the body and the guy walking around afterwards. While they all could have been in on the same hoax, it didn't sound that likely. Had there been only the boy's family and friends it might've been believable, but according to this there had been teachers in the funeral, too.

Geez, if all that was true the writer sure did his homework. On top of that he was nosy as hell. Ah well, for a reader like me that was just a plus, I suppose. As much as I wanted to continue reading I was getting tired; I'd pick up from where I left now tomorrow after school.

XXXXX

Needles to say, I had trouble focusing the next day in class; I just wanted to get home to continue reading. It was tempting to just take the books to school with me today, but I knew better than that; if I was seen reading those by the wrong people I'd be marked as a freak in no time. Been there, done that, didn't want to repeat it. If it came down to just name calling or something I could handle it, but there was always the chance of violence and despite being stronger now, I wanted to avoid it.

Not that any of that mattered right now, for the day was finally over and I could go home to read more. It would've probably been good if I had someone to share opinions about this with, but there wasn't really anyone who could do that. I mean, Mitarai hadn't returned from wherever he went and even if he had, I probably wouldn't want to tell him. It was okay that, for once, I was the one with secrets, wasn't it? Besides, he might not believe me anyway.

...Why's Mitarai the only one that comes to mind when I think about telling someone about this? I do have other friends, after all. There were some from high school, some from self defense class and a few from when I was a kid, so why did I think of him first? Because he's the one I see around the most? Or because he's the only one that knows about the other crazy stuff I've done? I might actually need a break from that guy; I think about him way too often these days.

It had been ages since I've been this impatient to get home after school, but when the train finally stopped at the station near my house I pretty much flew out of the door. I considered running all the way home, but in the end decided against it. Walking would have to do; too many people were around for me to run safely without bothering anyone.

When I finally got home, the door was locked. Mom must've had a night shift, then. That was rare.

It took me a while to find the key from my bag, for I rarely needed it, but once I did I got inside and went straight to my room. Now, where did I put that book again? Oh, right, under my pillow.

I took the book out and continued where I had left off.

 **A.N: Short chapter again. Now, nothing's set in stone, but I think most of the chapters will be around the same length as these first three, or that's at least what I'm trying to do. I just think it looks better if all the chapters in a story are around the same length.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As I continued to read "The Unexplained", I found something interesting: a story about a boy who could shoot glowing balls from his hands. Unfortunately, the eyewitness report was from over fifty years ago, but the point was that this sounded similar to my situation. Apparently, the witness had been a classmate of the boy. One day, on their way home from school, the two had been attacked by... a monster? That's what the eyewitness had said; it had been something huge with bright yellow skin and only one eye; she didn't remember very clearly. Apparently, the boy had told her to run as soon as they'd seen it, and she did, so she didn't get a good look at it. Normally I would've just pushed this story to the back of my mind just like the other ones, but there was one thing that made it more believable: the eyewitness, who by now was around her sixties, was named here. So far she was the first one I've noticed having given her own name for the book.

"This could be of use..." I muttered. The chances were low, but if I could find this woman I might be able to learn something new. Maybe she even knew where the man-

No, I mustn't get too excited. This could be a hoax, the name could be wrong, she might not know where to find the man and so on; there were countless of things that could go wrong and make this useless. However, so far it was pretty much the most useful information that I have, so I'll try to find out about her later. For that I better take notes on this particular case.

My eyes hurt; I need to take a break from reading. I don't really want to, but rushing too much won't get me anywhere. I'll go get something to eat and then continue. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

As I got to the kitchen I noticed that mom was already home, making dinner. I suppose I should just take a small snack, then. Maybe a pear? I like pears...

"You have mail, honey" mom suddenly said. I blinked. Mail?

"What mail? I don't remember ordering anything..." I trailed off. Had I? Nah, probably just a post card from grandma that she sent from a trip to hot springs or something...

"It's a letter, but the sender wasn't marked" mom told me "It's on the table."

I took the pear I had come for in the first place before getting the letter. I stared at my name on it, but the handwriting didn't seem familiar. Not that I was good at recognizing them in the first place. I shrugged; it didn't matter. I'd find out who it was from by simply reading it.

I ate the pear as I went back to my room, still looking at the letter. I didn't receive any mail often, especially not letters, so I was quite interested in it. I put it down next to the book, eating the rest of the pear. My hands got all sticky; I can't touch the library's books like this.

...But it won't stop me from reading the letter. I wanted to know already. I ripped the envelope open, taking out a single arc of folded paper. Unfolding it, I scanned over the words on the paper, color soon draining from my face. The letter was from Moku; he wrote about how he hadn't heard from me in a while and that we should see each other again soon etc. What the hell was he playing at!? Does he honestly think I would even consider seeing him?!

I gripped the letter tightly, crumpling it in my right hand while doing so. No, he wasn't so simple minded; there's no way he would think that. And if that wasn't his motive, I could think of only one thing.

He just wanted to scare and annoy me.

"The nerve of that bastard!" I yelled, punching the wall. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, but the noise that came from it was loud. Way louder than I expected. And that had happened before.

I looked at the wall I had just punched. Thankfully there was no hole in it, but it did have a big dent. Half hopeful, I looked down at my hand. As I had thought, it was glowing. As excited as it made me I couldn't help but think why now? Why did it always start out of nowhere like this? Was my anger some kind of source? Did I have to punch something in order for it to happen?

"Honey, is everything alright!?" I heard my mom call. I heard her coming, so I went to block the door quickly. The dent was bad, but even more than that I couldn't let her see my glowing fist.

"Everything is fine!" I called back, leaning against the door. Had she heard me yelling or just punching the wall? "Nothing to worry about!"

Mom was quiet for a moment before I heard her say: "If you say so."

She was going back down, it seemed. I sighed in relief; she'd leave me alone for now. Mom wasn't stupid; she definitely knew something was up, but like this I had time to hide the dent and try to return my fist back to normal. I looked at it again, trying to remember what had happened last time. How had I stopped it?

Maybe, if anger helped to cause it, calming down will help to make it go away? It's worth a shot at least. I closed my eyes, for that was something I recalled having done last time, and took deep breaths. When I opened them again the glow was gone. Huh, could this possibly be called process? Now I knew how to stop the glow after all... if only I could learn to make it appear by will, too. Oh, and it definitely brought some kind of power boost with it; by now I was sure of it. There was just no way I could've made a dent like that in to the wall with my normal punch.

...

Oh yeah, I should probably cover it before I do anything else so I won't forget. A poster should do the trick, at least for now. I tossed the now crumbled letter away and started going through my desk to find something suitable. I used an old My Little Pony –poster to cover the dent. Don't know why I still had it, and to be honest I think I don't even want to know. I must have had some ridiculous preteen's logic when I stuck it in my desk drawer... it just happened to be the only one I found; I have never been one to collect posters. I'll replace it with something less suspicious later. Now, time to continue reading... after I wash my sticky hands that is.

XXXXX

The next day in school I narrowly avoided Usui in the hallway, which made me think that he had already noticed me and mentioned it to Moku. That would explain the timing with the letter; they probably thought it'd be fun to try to scare me or something. There was also the possibility that Hatsumomo had told him.

I was honestly glad I wore all gray today; I wouldn't stand out or be eye-catching with something as simple as a grey blouse and a skirt... or was it too professional looking for a college student? Would that attract attention? ...Ugh, I think too much. I'll just handle things when they come at me; the only thing that comes from thinking too much ahead is a headache. Besides, now I have something else to think about: Mitarai is back. I could see him, coming towards the table I sat at. He got whatever he was doing done unusually quickly this time it seems.

"Hi Takanishi" he said as he sat down. Looking at him, I asked: "Where were you?"

Not that he'd answer, not with truth anyway. I knew that, but I still tried. I raised an eyebrow as he looked at me like he was surprised about something "What?"

He looked away, but the little smile on his face told me he was holding something back. Narrowing my eyes, I asked again: "Seriously, what?"

"Oh, nothing at all..." he said, but his smirk told otherwise "I was just sure you would've been spacing out again. My mistake."

As much as I wanted to say something smart back at him for that, I couldn't. I didn't come up with anything that would work; after all I really _had_ spaced out a lot recently.

"Whatever" I said. I waited for him to sit down before repeating: "So, where were you?"

"Just here and there" Mitarai answered easily. He used to fidget, stall and stutter when answering my questions about his disappearing, but I suppose he was past that by now. Damn, it'd have been easier to get him to tell me something if he got nervous; he might slip something. Ah well, now I had other things to work on so it didn't matter that much. I'd push it aside for now.

"Did I miss something important while I was away?" Mitarai asked. I just thought about dropping it, but since he was giving me such a good chance I couldn't help myself. Faking carefree, I replied: "Oh, just this and that."

Mitarai raised an eyebrow, but then realization seemed to hit him. Too fast for my liking I'd say.

"Haha" he said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"You act like you didn't deserve that" I said. He definitely did if you ask me. He sighed.

"Well, maybe" he admitted, but I _knew_ that was all I would get out of him "So, did I miss anything or not?"

"Well Hatsumomo got in to this school too" I told him, adding under my breath "By some unnatural miracle."

"Great" Mitarai said with a sigh, no longer bothering to hide his dislike for the girl. I still remember the time he was very friendly with her simply to keep up appearances. Better not to mention it to him though; the time he pretended and tried so hard to be mister perfect was a sore subject for Mitarai "Think she'll cause us trouble at some point?"

"Definitely" I said immediately. This was not a matter of _if_ , this was a matter of _when_ "But it's just Hatsumomo; nothing we haven't dealt with before."

"Yeah..." Mitarai said, getting my full attention. There was something odd about the way his voice dragged just now, not to mention his eyes were downcast, like he wanted to confirm that I couldn't look at him in the eyes.

"Is there something I should know?" I asked. This time, he openly looked away "Mitarai?"

"It's nothing, really" he said after a moment of hesitation "It's just... there was this little incident between me and her after you changed schools."

I frowned, wondering what had happened. Mitarai, despite still being timid, didn't let any small things get to him anymore, which meant it was something bigger. Something that he hasn't mentioned to me before. I really wanted to know what it was and almost asked again, but the uneasy look on his face held me back. While it made me even more curious, I came to the conclusion that he was uncomfortable enough as it was. I didn't want to bring any more bad memories to the surface than I already had.

"Okay" I said "But if she gives you any trouble you can't handle, know that I'll be there to help."

Why did I say that in the first place? Mitarai was stronger than me, mentally and most likely physically, too. If something that he couldn't handle happened then probably I couldn't, either.

"Yeah, likewise" Mitarai replied. Yup, I'll be more likely to need him than he'll be to need me. Come to think of it, had he ever needed me for anything? ...I don't think so; he was always the one helping _me_. That was a bit depressing thought.

We sat in an uncomfortable silence, eating our lunches. It wouldn't have been uncomfortable otherwise, but Mitarai was obviously nervous about something, glancing around and at me from time to time. Was he keeping an eye out for Hatsumomo? Or was it something I said?

"Hey"

"Yeah?" I answered back to him. He looked surprised... ah; he probably thought I had spaced out again. Nope, not this time.

"Do you want to hang out after school tomorrow? I'm planning on going shopping." Mitarai said. I raised an eyebrow at that; if Mitarai went shopping then that usually meant-

"More hooded sweaters?" I asked him. The blond really liked those; when he wasn't in a school uniform or a suit, he always had a loose, hooded sweater on. Such as now. At least he had different colors; the one he had on now was bright red.

"Yeah" he admitted, scratching his head "Many of the ones I have are starting to fall apart."

I raised an eyebrow at that. Didn't he buy a new set just a few months ago? I asked him about it, and he looked away with a blush.

"Ah... yeah, but they seemed to be poorly made... breaking apart so fast..." was his answer. That way of speaking and the fact that he wasn't looking at me told me he was clearly lying. Why would he need to lie about this? Should I try to press the truth out of him? ...No, the lunch will be over soon, I don't have enough time.

"Sure, I'll come" I finally remembered to answer his question. I could make him tell me the truth tomorrow.

XXXXX

After I got home I started reading the library books right away, also taking notes, but I couldn't do that the whole night. As interesting as it was, my patience was running thin: there was no explanation to what I was experiencing or stories similar to it, not really. I needed a break, so I decided to try to get my hand glowing again. Sitting on my bed, I extended my hand, staring at it. So, what now? How would I do it? Would I need to punch something in order for it to work? Would just punching the air be enough? Well, I could only find out by trying, so I did just that.

Nothing.

Okay, so just throwing a punch and wanting it to appear won't do any good. What else was needed? What had I done differently before? The only difference I could remember was being angry, so that could be it. That was worth a shot, too. Maybe I should also try closing my eyes? I usually had them closed when I tried to get rid of the glow, so maybe it'd help to bring it forward, too. So I closed my eyes, trying to think of something that made me angry. Mitarai's behavior today was the first thing that came to my mind; how he had definitely lied to me and seemed to be hiding something. And today hadn't been the first time either; not even close. He had done similar things very often, and it had started to get annoying. Really annoying. That in mind I opened my eyes and threw another punch, smiling in excitement as I saw the glow appear.

"I did it..." however, the glow disappeared about as soon as it appeared. I frowned, pulling my fist back and looking at it. How come it went out just like that? Before I've always had to focus to-

Wait no, that wasn't true. It went out fast the first time too, that time in practice. So fast in fact that I thought I had imagined it all. What did I do differently back then and now? Why had it lasted only a moment, unlike the last two times? There has to be a reason, so think!

...Or was there really a reason? Whatever the thing happening to me was, it was unnatural, so who knew how it worked. Maybe there was no logic or reason to follow? Maybe there was, but it was one so complicated that an average person like me wouldn't be able to figure it out? That sure was a depressing thought. Still...

"Like hell I'm giving up..." I muttered. I wanted to understand this strange... power. To see how it worked. And for now I had no other idea on how to do it than through practice.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It's probably needless to say this, but my training the previous evening hadn't brought much results. I managed to make my hand glow a few more times, but the glow kept disappearing immediately. It could have been because I hadn't hit anything solid; I didn't want to break anything. I had also tried switching hands, punching with my left hand instead of right, but that had been even worse. There had been absolutely no sign of glow on it. Maybe it would only appear on my right arm? Or maybe it was easier with it since right was my dominant arm? That would actually make sense.

"...Nishi... Takanishi!" well shit, I must've spaced out again. I stopped leaning on the school gate and looked up, seeing Mitarai already standing next to me. How long has he been there?

"Yeah yeah, I hear you" I told him. I kind of expected some kind of comment about me being so spacey again, but surprisingly he didn't say anything this time. Not wanting the silence to drag on, I asked: "Well then, shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's."

We went to a few shops that Mitarai was a regular customer of and a few others where I could get some clothes, too. I wasn't really one to follow fashion, but that didn't mean I didn't like shopping, I loved it. And I might not seem like the person to that would do that kind of stuff, but I also loved "girls only" –shopping trips; I used to do that with my friends from time to time when I was in high school. But I suppose shopping with Mitarai was alright too; he never complained about me taking too long or took too long himself.

"These should be enough for a while" Mitarai said as he returned with a paper bag that held his new sweater. Looking at my new bag that I had gotten while he was in another shop, he asked: "What did you get?"

"I found a nice scarf" one that I probably would never use; I just kinda had a thing for scarves. Judging from the look on his face, Mitarai knew it too "Not a word, Sweater Maniac."

"Whatever you say, Scarf Queen." he said back with a chuckle. Not the first time he had called me that, but luckily the nickname didn't exactly stick. It sounded like the name of some crappy super hero or a fairy from a cartoon.

"I'm hungry" I told the blond "Let's go eat lunch."

"Sure" Mitarai said and we made our way to the upper floors of the shopping center where the restaurants were "What do you want to eat? Snack, junk food or an actual meal?"

"I suppose we could get junk food for once" I still need to keep an eye on what I eat, but once in a while shouldn't hurt "Hamburgers or pizza?"

"Hamburgers" Mitarai said immediately "They are much cheaper... "

"Let me guess: you have a low monthly allowance" I said and he rolled his eyes, saying: "You know I do."

I sure did; it was pretty obvious from how he was always counting his money and budgeting it all whenever we went shopping.

"I'm planning on getting a part time job; you should do that too" I told him. We had both gone to high schools that forbid students from working so we couldn't earn our own money, but we no longer had that problem. Mitarai however looked uncomfortable.

"I don't know if I'd have time to handle one properly..." he said, scratching his head. Yeah, his disappearances do eat a lot of his time, I'm sure. Now was probably a good time to get him to tell me something.

"What exactly is the thing that takes away so much of your time?" there was no use in beating around the bush here; if I did that, so would he.

"Uuh, well... it's nothing important, really. Just some... guy stuff." was he kidding me? If he thought I was being nosy and that it was not my business, he could just _say so_ at least once but no, it was always these lame excuses of his. Seriously, guy stuff? If it was anyone else but Mitarai, I would've dropped the subject and the whole guy long ago, but I couldn't do that with him. He had done so much for me, even before we really even knew each other, yet all I ever did was cause him trouble... was it even _right_ to push him like this?

I jumped a little as I suddenly felt something touch by shoulder. Whirling around, I saw Mitarai behind me, his hand extended. Tsk, here we go again...

"Again, Takanishi" he said with a frown on his face "What were you thinking so hard about?"

"Ah, just wondering what you meant by "guy stuff."" I said. Maybe it'd be fine to tease him a little... just a little "Are you a frequent customer at a strip club or something?"

"What!?" Mitarai shrieked in terror as he stopped walking. That was pretty much the reaction I had been expecting "No!"

"I suppose not; that'd be a bit too extreme" smirking, I asked: "Just watching porn movies with some friends, then?"

Mitarai groaned in annoyance, apparently now realizing that I was just teasing him.

"You know Takanishi, sometimes you're a real piece of work" he said. I laughed it off; I know I deserved that, but it's not like he was any better.

We went to get our food from McDonalds and chose a table. I had honestly been tempted to take a big double cheese burger, but I had to remember to control myself. I didn't want to gain weight again. Mitarai on the other hand seemed to have no such a problem; he ordered a big coke, a huge bacon burger and extra large fries. And desert, of course: a huge chocolate milkshake. Just where did it all go? Did he really burn that much calories? Did he have a sporty hobby I wasn't aware of?

"So uh... Takanishi?" I turned my attention to Mitarai as he said my name. He seemed a little nervous for some reason.

"Yeah?" I asked. He opened his mouth again, but before he could say whatever it was that he wanted to we heard a familiar beeping sound. Here he goes again.

"Sorry, I'll be right back" he said, getting up and walking to an emptier area in the restaurant. To his luck there weren't many people here today. I went through my options: I could just sit here and wait for him; even if he had to go somewhere he'd come to get his bags first. The second option was to go and eavesdrop. Now, I know I shouldn't, but how else would I find out whatever Mitarai was hiding from me? He certainly wouldn't tell me on his own, that much I was sure of. Eavesdropping it is, then. I left our table, hoping that our bags wouldn't be stolen while we were both gone. It was unlikely, but you never know.

Mitarai had disappeared out of my sight, but thankfully I found him just around the corner. Now I just needed to listen and be careful to not be seen.

" _Mitarai, this is really important"_ I heard a woman's voice coming from his beeper, which was apparently some kind of phone unlike I had thought. Huh, it seems pretty high tech.

"I'm in the middle of something really important, too" I heard the blond say. Yeah, eating junk food and shopping clothes was always a priority "Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

There was a silence. It was possible that I just didn't hear what the woman said, but I was pretty sure she wasn't saying anything at all. Just in case I was wrong, I tried to concentrate more in order to hear even quiet speech if there was any.

" _Gosh, you're starting to sound like Yusuke back in the day"_ I heard the woman say again _"This won't become a habit will it?"_

"Of course not" Mitarai answered with a chuckle "You can always rely on me, but please make an exception this one time."

Silence, and then: _"Fine, but don't make this a habit. I'll see you tomorrow at 12 in the usual place?"_

"Sure" Mitarai said "Bye."

As soon as he said that I hurried back to our table in order to not be caught. Thankfully our bags were still there and I was fast enough to be sitting and looking normal already when Mitarai rounded the corner.

"Sorry about that" he said, rubbing the back of his head. Knowing that it would be unlike me not to ask him about it, I said: "So, what was that?"

"Nothing special really" he waived it off, as usual. I narrowed my eyes, knowing that he'd change the subject soon "We should eat before the food gets cold."

See? I told you.

"Right" I said, suddenly remembering that he had been about to say something before getting interrupted "What did you want to say before your beeper went off?"

"Huh? Oh, right... well..." he was being all nervous again. Strange "It's just... a few nights ago your mom called me. She was worried about you."

I nearly spit out my coke at that. It wasn't the first time she asked Mitarai to talk to me in her place, but this time... what exactly had mom said to him? Because of the timing I knew it was probably about the letter and my little outburst, but I had no idea how she had presented the matter to the blonde.

"...What did she say?" I asked, preparing for the worst. Mom had the habit of making a bit too big deal of things... well; I suppose that might be my fault. She got a bit overprotective after _that_ incident.

"She said you got a letter" he started "And that soon after taking it to your room she heard a yell and a crash. She sounded really worried, but since you didn't tell her anything she figured you might talk to me..."

Right, of course she did. Dad had long days at work, so he and mom didn't have much time to talk to each other. Mitarai was, as my mother said, "a mature, honest, nice young man." Mom liked talking to him and the blond was too polite to ever say that he wasn't interested or that it wasn't a good time. And if she and I had a fight for some reason, Mitarai would often help us figure things out.

...

We relied on him way too much.

"It was no big deal, really" I told him, for it really wasn't. I'm sure Moku's just trying to mess with me for fun "I just overreacted a little."

"To what?" he pressed. Deciding to play dump, I just answered: "To that letter."

He sighed.

"Takanishi, let's not play this game" Mitarai said "Just be honest with me: was it anything you are worried about? Something you shouldn't keep to yourself?"

...Probably.

"No" I told him. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I didn't want to bother him with this; especially since I wasn't sure myself "It was nothing."

"...I'll take your word for it, then" he said, seeming uncertain "But if the situation changes-"

"Then I'll tell you" I cut him off. After that we ate in awkward silence, the light mood from earlier having disappeared. Not that I minded it, the silence I mean; I had something to think about. I really wanted to find out who that woman Mitarai talked to was and what they're up to; I'm pretty sure she has a big role in whatever it is that makes him act so weirdly from time to time. If only I knew what that usual place of theirs that they agreed to meet at was... would it be alright to follow him tomorrow? To go to his house and see where he goes, without getting myself noticed of course. The idea felt wrong, but wasn't the way he kept secrets wrong too? I'm not saying he can't have a life of his own that I'm not part of, but sometimes he's clearly lying about things and that's what makes me angry. Why can't he just say that it's none of my business? Or was he subtly trying to hint that already?

...Gosh, I hope not. The thought makes the idea of tailing him seem even more wrong, but now I want to do it even more. Understanding what he's up to will make things clearer and I can move from there.

...I'm good at making my actions seem justified, aren't I?

I'm such a horrible person.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I arrived to Mitarai's house at 8 am, just to be sure; I had no idea how far this "usual spot" of theirs was after all. Not many people were up and about at this time since it was Sunday, but I still better be careful not to be spotted.

...Was I taking this too far? His meeting with that woman, whoever she was, was four hours away. Even if their meeting point was far I was definitely a bit too early... better safe than sorry? I certainly hope so; I don't want to miss this opportunity.

I took out my notebook in order to have something to do. I plan to go see that woman who was mentioned in "The Unexplained" after this if I have the time, so I was checking the name and address I had written down. Her name was Ushiro Chiyoko and she lived about an hour train ride from here... or at least that's what the book said; there was no guarantee the information there was correct. However, it was definitely worth a shot.

I was getting bored as hell; it's been over three hours since I got here. Why was I so early again? ...Or could it be I was too late? Had he left _before_ I got here? Unlikely, but not entirely impossible. I really hope I haven't been standing here for nothing.

"Finally" I muttered before quickly covering my mouth as I saw Mitarai come out of his house. Now came the difficult part: to follow him without being seen. Thankfully he didn't seem to be paying much attention to his surroundings, but then again why would he? He probably knew the area like the back of his hand anyway.

It didn't take long for us to get to a park where he sat down on a bench. _This_ was the usual meeting spot between him and the mysterious girl? If only I'd known I wouldn't have needed to get up so early... oh, someone's coming.

I saw a girl with long, light blue hair running towards Mitarai. What a weird hair color... was she the one he'd been talking with? It started to seem like it; she went right over to him and the blond stood up to greet her... with a hug. They were close, then. Maybe she was his girlfriend? Or maybe not; he seemed a bit startled about the hug. They were talking, well, mostly the girl, but I couldn't hear what was said. Judging from the faces they made it was nothing good; Mitarai looked worried. I should've gone closer, but it was too late now; they'd see me if I moved away from the tree I was standing behind... or would they? They seemed very focused on their conversation; maybe I wouldn't be noticed? Besides, Mitarai had his back to me, so even if the girl saw me she wouldn't realize what I was doing as long as I acted normally enough. Yup, this shouldn't be too hard.

I took out a book from my bag, one that I had been reading while waiting for Mitarai to appear, and casually started walking closer, pretending to read it. As long as my friend wouldn't turn around this should work.

"...is bad, really bad." I heard Mitarai say. Too bad I had missed _what exactly_ was bad. What had the girl said?

"Of course it's bad!" the girl yelled "Which is _exactly why_ we should've met up yesterday when I called you!"

Should I be feeling guilty? In a way it was my fault that he was getting yelled at now. I couldn't see his face, but from the way his head went down I'd say Mitarai was the one feeling guilty.

"Sorry; I had no idea the situation was that bad" he said, scratching his head "I don't really have an excuse for this."

I could both hear and see the girl sigh as she patted Mitarai's shoulder.

"It's fine; this was the first time you didn't come immediately when called after all" she said "Whatever it was that you were doing must've been really important for you, too."

"Well... yeah..." okay, now I did feel guilty. Maybe I really should have told him something; he had stayed behind and got now yelled at for it, but he hadn't exactly gained anything from our conversation. I should've said more... but then again wouldn't that have worried him even more? He seems to have enough to deal with as it is; he doesn't need my troubles added to it.

"In any case, now we have to-"the girl suddenly stopped talking, and I realized she was looking right at me, our eyes meeting. When exactly had I stopped walking?

"Botan? Is something wrong?" I heard Mitarai ask. The moment he started to turn around I knew I couldn't get away without being seen; I had to come up with some excuse and fast. Our eyes met as he saw me. I know not saying anything made me seem suspicious, but I couldn't come up with anything. He had probably already realized that I had followed him.

"Takanishi? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was just taking a short cut through here" I started "And happened to see you, so... well..."

I trailed off, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. Mitarai crossed his arms. Raising an eyebrow, he continued where I left of: "So you decided to eavesdrop?"

"We~ll sort of" I confessed. This was better than getting caught about the truth "Since I saw you with a _girl_ I couldn't resist. Are you on a date?"

I knew it wasn't a date of course, but I had to keep Mitarai from realizing the truth.

"No, just meeting up with a friend" he didn't stutter or blush, which was unexpected from him after a comment like that. Something was up "There's somewhere we need to be, so I'll just see you at school next week."

With that Mitarai turned around and started walking away, taking the rather confused looking woman, Botan, I think was her name, with him. And I was confused, too. This wasn't like him; he wasn't usually so... cold. Either something really bad was going on or he had seen through my lie. Or both.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Miss Takanishi!" the blue haired woman called out with a nervous, seemingly fake cheerfulness as she followed Mitarai.

"Likewise" I managed to say before they got too far away. I kept on standing there a great while after they were out of my sight. What now? If I followed Mitarai again and he notices he'd definitely be mad... and I probably couldn't catch up anymore anyway. It seems I have to leave it be for today.

I suppose I could now go and try to find that woman, Ushiro Chiyoko. It's not like I had anything better to do.

XXXXX

I found the right place easily, and it seemed that a woman by the right name really did live there. Now I just hoped that this would actually lead to something instead of the woman turning out to be senile or getting turned away before I could really ask her anything. I walked up to the small two storey house, looking at the door.

"Well, here goes" I mumbled, ringing the doorbell. There was a pause and for a moment I thought no one was home, but then I heard footsteps from inside the house. I hadn't exactly thought this through, what I'd say and what not, so I just had to go with the flow... but it's not like anyone could prepare for a conversation like this, right?

The door opened and an old woman came to view. She was short, a little shorter than me and that was already saying something. She seemed to be in good shape, though. Her hair would naturally be black, but the old age had brought forward some grey strands in her high bun. But more than anything stood out her blood red kimono; the color was rather disturbing.

"May I help you with something?" she asked. Did I just space out? I have no idea, but I sure hope I didn't.

"I'm looking for Ushiro Chiyoko" I told her. I'm pretty sure this woman was her, but I had to be certain.

"Here I am" the old woman confirmed "What do you need?"

I came to the conclusion that this thing would be a bit hard to explain, so I took "The Unexplained" out of my bag and showed it to her. Thank god I took it with me. She raised an eyebrow, so I opened the page that had her interview. She looked the page over before rolling her eyes.

"Well, come in" she said with a sigh, stepping aside and holding the door open for me. I had an uneasy feeling about this, but if I didn't go in I wouldn't get answers, that much I knew. So in I went. She led me to the living room and told me to sit down.

"I take it you've taken interest in supernatural occurrences" she said "So what exactly can I do for you?"

Good thing I had gone over many possible questions she might make and many possible answers I could give her and questions I could ask when I had been waiting for Mitarai.

"I was just wondering about this... whole thing in general and what you can tell me about it" but despite all the thinking, such a vague way to start was the only thing I could come up with. Miss Ushiro (or was it Missis? The book didn't say) narrowed her eyes briefly before her face returned the way it was, but I didn't miss it.

"There's nothing to tell" she told me "It was just a little prank."

A lie, it had to be.

"At your age?" I questioned, only realizing after I said it that it sounded really rude. I was pretty much calling her ancient. Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind since she just laughed.

"I did it _because_ I'm at this age" she said, much to my confusion "When you're old and retired you often find yourself bored after all."

Oh. That did make sense, but I still had a feeling she was lying... or was I just hoping she was? No, she had to be, why else would she have called me inside? Was she testing me? If so then I could only think of one way to make her tell me what she knew.

"I think you're lying" I said. She seemed a bit surprised by my straightforward comment, but didn't really lose her cool.

"And what makes you say that, young lady?" she asked.

"The name's Takanishi. Takanishi Yuri" I said, realizing that I had forgotten to introduce myself "And honestly? It's mostly just a hunch."

"Your hunch is incorrect" she told me "If that was all, I think we're done here."

"Actually, there's one more thing that I'd like to show you" I said as I stood up. This was a bit risky, but I couldn't think of anything else that could help. Now I just wished this would work on the first try, otherwise I'd really look like a fool. I closed my eyes in order to concentrate; this _had to_ work on the first try. I thought about things that made me angry; high school, Mitarai's behavior and what not. That's what helped to summon the glow. My eyes snapped open as I punched the air with my right hand and, by some luck; it really did work on the first try. My hand was glowing.

Now I just hope I had been right about her lying; otherwise I'd be in trouble.

She stared at me, a bit too long in fact and it was making me nervous. Then, all of sudden, she grinned. Was that good or bad?

"Looks like you come here for a reason after all" she said "Why don't you sit back down while I go make us some tea? I have a feeling this might take a while."

I sat down like she had asked me to, a bit relieved. The hard part was over... or wait, had that been the easy part? What could I say? What would she say? What if she asked me something I didn't know how to answer to? ...Ugh, my head hurts!

This might turn out to be a long day.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

After Miss Ushiro returned with the tea (and yes, she was definitely "Miss;" there was no ring), I briefly wondered if it was safe to drink it. But I suppose thinking about it was useless; not drinking it would be a huge sign of distrust and I couldn't afford that right now. So I took a sip.

"Ooh that's brave of you; did you not consider it might be poisoned?" Miss Ushiro asked, causing me to almost choke on the tea. She laughed, sounding like one of those bad guys from cartoons before saying: "Just kidding; the tea I'm drinking is from the same pot after all."

I glared at the small old woman. Even if the article in the book hadn't been a prank, she definitely didn't lie about still making them at her age. Twisted old hag.

"Very funny" I just said. We sat in silence for a moment, sipping the tea until she spoke: "How long have you had access to your spirit energy?"

Spirit energy?

"About a week" I answered, asking: "So that's what it's called? Spirit energy?"

"A week? And you already manage to bring it out as you please? That's some talent you have there, especially since you don't seem to have been taught by anyone."

"I haven't" I admitted. Was it wrong to feel a bit proud about the surprised look on her face? "How did you know?"

"Well, you didn't know what it was called" she started before stating the obvious: "And if you had a teacher you probably wouldn't have bothered to search for some old woman mentioned in a book that most people think is a hoax."

She certainly had a very valid point there.

"I suppose so" I said. I took a sip again before forcing myself to ask: "So uuh, what do you know about this... spirit energy thing."

"A thing or two" she said, seeming a bit evasive about the matter "Why do you want to learn about it?"

I froze. Why? _Why?_ How come I hadn't prepared myself to such a simple question that was sure to come?!

...

Actually, it was a really good question. Why _did_ I want to learn more about this? When I figured out that it was really happening and not just my imagination, I had immediately wanted to learn more. But why did I want it so bad? I hadn't stopped to think about that, not even once.

"Well, to be honest I... I don't know." I said. Gosh, that sounded so lame!

"Don't know?" she seemed honestly surprised at that "I've gotten many different answers to this question, but that's a first."

"You mean lots of people have come to ask you for advice?" I asked her, just so I didn't misunderstand something. Maybe she could tell me how to find more people like me!

"Yes, they have" she said, but my smile dropped as she continued: "But I won't be giving you any information on others. If you think about it I'm sure you understand why they don't want their names revealed."

I did understand, or at least I thought I did. It was a bit disappointing, but I had to make it with whatever information Miss Ushiro was ready to give me on her own.

"Okay" I said "But there's something _you_ can tell me, right?"

"Of course there's always _something_ to tell" she said, sipping her tea again before continuing: "However, I do not know if the little I know will be of any use to you or not."

"But will you still tell me?" it felt like she was dragging this on, like she was buying time for something.

"I will if you want" she said. Suddenly, all humor was gone from her face as she said sternly: "But are you sure you want to know? That you don't want to just forget the whole thing?"

I don't get what she's saying. It should be obvious that I wanted to know since I came all the way here. Was she _trying_ to get me to drop this? That could be it; the look on her face was hard to read, but it wasn't a nice one. There was something I didn't know but I have a feeling I should.

"Why wouldn't I want to know?" I asked her. I should probably be more subtle, but since I didn't know how I just said everything directly: "What is the reason you think I shouldn't know more?"

Miss Ushiro narrowed her eyes, so maybe that was a bit too blunt of me.

"You have no idea what you're getting in to, girl" she spat out "Spirit energy and the secrets behind it can destroy your whole life if you're not careful. One mistake can cost you everything."

She sounded bitter, and looked too now that I think about it, which must mean-

"You're talking from experience" I voiced my thoughts "What happened to you?"

She was silent, and for a moment I honestly feared she'd throw me out. However, it seemed that wouldn't be the case.

For now anyway.

"You read the interview I gave for the book. How well you remember it?" she asked me. I thought for a moment before answering: "Everything, I suppose."

It hadn't been a long one or very detailed. Even if I didn't remember it all, I highly doubt I would've forgotten anything important.

"I never saw Kazuki after that day" she started. I blinked, not knowing who she was talking about for a moment before realizing it must've been her classmate's name "He didn't return to school after that. I heard from the teachers he had gotten sick and transferred after it. But I didn't believe them."

She must have thought the monster killed him. I didn't say anything, waiting for her to continue so she wouldn't lose whatever string of thought she had.

"At first I told some of my friends about the demon, which I later learned the attacking creature was" so demons actually existed? I'd have to remember to ask more about those at some point "But they thought I was just messing with them. At first, that is. I didn't tell my parents or the teachers; figured adults wouldn't listen anyway."

She sipped her tea again and all I could think of was what she meant by "at first." I wasn't sure I even wanted to know; the pained look she had had on her face as she said it confirmed that something had gone wrong and badly. But what could a bunch of kids have done?

"When I first told my friends, they thought I was joking. After a few days they thought I was still trying to pull some prank on them, perhaps something big since I kept insisting. However, after a few weeks they told a teacher, who in return contacted my parents." she took a sip again, emptying her cup before continuing: "They told me to stop the bad jokes. Back then I was mad that they were scolding me for something I didn't do, so I went and told them the truth. That I wasn't lying... more tea?"

I blinked and looked down at my cup. I wasn't even half way done.

"Sure" I said, hoping she would continue where she left of after she'd poured us more tea. Even if I had a vague idea of what she'd say. Child or not, if someone insisted that they saw a monster they usually ended up to a shrink, right? I thanked her, sipping from my now full cup again, waiting for her to continue.

"My parents came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with my head. They told me to drop the subject, hit me even, but I kept insisting on what I saw, so they pulled me out of school, said that I had a long term illness, so that I wouldn't damage the family's reputation. But it was too late; my siblings were already bullied in school because of their crazy sister. So we had to move."

I kept on listening, not daring to interrupt. One incident led to all this? Really? No wonder she was hesitant of telling about these things; they really could ruin lives.

...Still, I wouldn't back down. I wanted to know and learn more, no matter what. When she asked the reason earlier I couldn't answer, and I'm still not sure, but I think it's simply because I want to leave something behind after I'm gone. Something that would prove to people that, at one point, I existed, that I was definitely _here_ , in this world. How this would help me to accomplish that, I have no idea, but I have a good feeling. That's enough for now.

"At first I was bitter at my friends for telling the adults. I was bitter for years" she said, but the smile that came to her face told me there was more to it "But in the end, when I had grown up, I realized they did it because they were worried. They just tried to help me."

"So you made up in the end?" I couldn't help but ask. To my surprise and disappointment, Miss Ushiro shook her head.

"No" she said "I understood their point and forgave them, but knew they'd never believe me and I refused to lie. I know what I saw, I know what happened. I had no intention to pretend I'd been crazy." she took a sip from her tea again before wrapping up the story by saying: "I never really saw any of them again."

I was about to ask if there hadn't been any class reunions or something, but decided against it. If there were she probably hadn't wanted to go. Or worse, maybe the class' "crazy girl" wasn't even invited. The thought kind of made me angry.

"As you can probably understand now, getting involved with anything spiritual can get you in serious trouble" Miss Ushiro said, getting my attention again "Knowing this, do you still want to learn more? Are you prepared to take the risk?"

I was about to say yes, but the look on her face made me stop again. It gave the impression that she was testing me. Would she not tell me anything if my answer didn't please her? What did she want me to say in the first place? ...The more I thought about it, a small feeling of doubt started to bloom in me. But still...

"I'm not really sure" I said, staring at the tea cup in my hands. I bit my lip before continuing: "All I know is that if I _don't_ do anything, I'll end up regretting it. I just know it."

"So choosing the path you might regret over the one you think you'd definitely regret?" she asked. Taking a sip from her tea, she said: "Fair enough."

Did that mean she'd tell me what she knows?

"There are a lot of things I don't know nor understand, but through years of research and practice I learned some things about spirit energy" Miss Ushiro said. I had been listening before, but now she definitely had my full attention. This is what I had come here for. She put the cup on the table and held her right hand in front of her, palm facing the ceiling. Soon, a bright glow surrounded her hand. I should have expected it, but it took me by surprise that she did it so out of the blue. It seemed to come to her naturally, too, like she didn't need to concentrate at all.

"It took me years, but eventually I learned to control my energy to this point" she told me, a wry smile coming to her face "Even if the only thing I can do with it is to produce a source of light for a short moment like this."

Wait, what? A source of light? She didn't get a power boost?!

"That's it?" I asked. When Miss Ushiro raised an eyebrow, I realized that that might have sounded a little rude "I mean, is that really all that happens? You don't get some kind of power boost or something?"

"Power boost?" she asked as the light faded, soon disappearing completely "Like Superman and other comic characters? No, nothing like that, just the light."

"Oh..." how come? Why did I get a power boost but she didn't? Was it because I activated the glow with a punch? Or because I was physically stronger than her? ...Or at least I assume I am; she's quite tiny and doesn't seem to have much muscle.

"It's not that surprising" Miss Ushiro said. Did I space out or something? The amused look on her face certainly made me think so "Spirit energy works differently with everyone."

She said with such certainty that it calmed me down somewhat.

"Can you tell me more?"

"Of course" she said "But first, more tea?"

I looked at my tea cup again; I had barely touched it while hers was almost finished again. I wasn't that big fan of green tea after all... but it'd be rude to refuse.

"Sure. Thank you" I wonder if she even noticed that I barely drank it.

"You said you first noticed the existence of spiritual powers in yourself about a week ago by accident, correct?" she asked as she poured the tea. When I nodded she continued: "Yet you can already bring it out at will while it took me years to do so despite knowing of its existence. Do you know what that means?"

"Umm... no?" I said, a bit embarrassed. Something in her tone told me that I should have caught on to what she meant. When she chuckled I knew I was right. Geez, sorry for being slow!

"It simply means that you are more talented than I" she said "Way more talented, in fact."

"Oh... okay" was she bitter about it? She didn't sound like it, but one could never know for sure with old people... but then again Miss Ushiro didn't seem to be the type to hide her feelings.

"I may be far from the natural talent that you are, but unlike you I have experience" she said. I sipped my tea while listening to her, for my mouth started to go dry. I felt like this was now going to the point I wanted it to "You came here to see if you could learn something, did you not?"

"Yes"

"Well then I'll be happy to give you some advice" she said "But first: finish your tea."

I sweat dropped but complied anyway. Drinking not so tasty tea was a small price to pay for learning more after all.

 **A.N: So I felt like I should clear a few things that might have raised some questions due to cultural differences or the like:**

 **1\. In Japan people don't really use first names unless they're close with each other or unless the other person is younger, which is why Yuri and Mitarai call each other by last names. They're close, but can't bring themselves to treat each other as that close. Mitarai has also visited her home often and gotten to know her mother, who actually calls him by his first name.**

 **2\. This fic has no honorifics like "San", "Kun", etc. because I didn't use them in "Air" either. As for the reason, well... I've only watched YYH with the English dub, so it would've felt weird to use them.**

 **3\. They had school in Saturday. Now, I don't know which days and at what time people go to school where you readers are from, but I'm pretty sure that Saturdays were school days in Japan until the year 2000 or so and since YYH is an old series this story is located in the timeline somewhere between mid 80s and 90s. I try to not make too many mistakes regarding the timeline, (meaning smart phones and the like don't exist) but if I mess something up then please bear with it. I was born in mid 90s so I don't actually have a good knowledge about those times (like music or movies.) Luckily google exists.**

 **4\. In chapter five, Yuri left hers and Mitarai's bags unguarded in a public place. This might seem weird to most, but from what I've understood it's pretty common in Japan, for it's said to be a relatively safe country.**

 **So yeah, these things might have been clear to some, but just in case there was someone who didn't know. If there is anything else that confuses you don't hesitate to ask.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

It was Monday, lunch break. Mitarai wasn't at school, and part of me felt relieved. I feared things might get a bit awkward between us after yesterday. His absence gave me time to think... but then again it might be nice if he was here; that way I could just get this over with.

I sat down at our usual table and started eating, going over my conversation with Miss Ushiro in my head. I'd gotten quite a few tips and basic information from her, which I was glad about, but she had flat out refused to teach me to actually use my spirit energy. She said I had gotten so far on my own that she wouldn't know how to teach me. Luckily, the tips she gave were useful.

First of all, the reason I couldn't summon the power- err, _spirit energy,_ with my left hand was, according to her, the fact that I was right handed. It was simply natural that it was harder to learn it with my left hand. It was kind of embarrassing that I didn't realize it myself. Another thing was that anger wasn't actually a necessary element for it to work in the long run; it just came out easier with strong emotions. Miss Ushiro said that I should train the anger –part out and learn how to use my power by just concentrating. She also said that once I mastered that, sooner or later it would come as naturally as walking if I kept practicing.

Had I not seen her do it so easily herself I wouldn't believe it, but it was clearly true. She had given me tips on meditation and other ways that could help me focus. To be completely honest I wasn't the kind of person that normally had patience for meditation or the like, but for the sake of my spirit energy training, I would try. How hard could it be anyway? I mean some may disagree, but in the end it just comes down to sitting still and focusing on nothing... yep, can't be too hard. I should be able to pull it off with some patience. Besides, I had time to practice since it wasn't like I had something to use this power on, unless I happen to run in to some of those demons that-

...

Damn, I forgot to ask her about those demons she mentioned. That topic just didn't come up after the start of our conversation and I forgot to ask about it. What were demons like anyway? Big, ugly monsters that ate people? Cunning creatures that used their wits to take down humans, like they did in old tales? And what could they do? Were they just strong, or did they have some kind of powers? Like shape shifting; that's pretty common in old tales, right?

...Maybe I shouldn't think about that too much; I had enough to handle with my spirit energy training. I'll just ask Miss Ushiro about them the next time I see her... if I remember it then.

XXXXX

Tuesday, and still no Mitarai. Once again, I found myself wondering where he was and what was he doing. The conversation between him and that Botan woman also bothered me. What was so bad? Was Mitarai really doing something illegal? It really didn't fit his ordinary good guy –image, but what else could it be? What else would he want to hide like that? Should I try to follow him again? ...No, at least not in a while; if he caught me again it would cause trouble.

...I'm such a terrible friend.

XXXXX

Wednesday, and there was Mitarai. Suddenly I hoped I would've had more time to think what I'd say to him about Sunday if he asked... or that I would've simply paid it more thought when I still had time. Shit.

Wordlessly, he sat down to the table where I was already at and started eating. That was not good; normally Mitarai gave me some kind of greeting when he came and I _know_ I hadn't just spaced out this time like I had so many other times. Something was up.

I wondered what to say, but came up with nothing smart so I decided to wait for him to speak. It took a while, but eventually, he did.

"You were following me last Sunday" he said "On purpose."

It wasn't even a question; he was completely sure of what he was saying. Looking at him, I saw him staring straight at me. There was no other way out of this than the truth.

"...Yeah" I admitted. That much I had to do, but as they say, silence is gold. I'll let him speak before I say anything else.

"You found out I'd meet up with Botan because you eavesdropped on our conversation on Saturday" well, of course he knew that too "What I don't know is how you managed to find us from the park."

Was he serious? He hadn't noticed me following him?

"Were you actually able to follow me? I _thought_ I was being careful..." he trailed off, a thoughtful look on his face. I snorted despite knowing it wasn't the most polite thing to do.

"Well I'm just a ninja who can go unnoticed by everyone" I said, flipping my hair back. When he snorted I knew that I hadn't messed up as badly as I had thought; he wouldn't be laughing if I had.

"I suppose you are" he said "How many times have you done this?"

What?

"This was the first time" I said. It was true, but Mitarai didn't look like he'd believe me "It's true, I swear! ...Well, at least it was the first time I followed _you_..."

Mitarai just kept staring at me, clearly trying to define if I was telling the truth or not. And I was, but it was hard not to squirm under such an intense gaze. Finally, he said: "And it was also the last time you follow me around, right?"

When I didn't answer immediately, he pressed: " _Right?_ "

"Uuh... yeah" I finally said. I didn't know if I'd be able to fight my curiosity and keep that promise, but what I did know was that if he caught me breaking it it'd be a way bigger deal than me following him this time.

"Good" was all he said for the rest of the lunch break. He didn't even bother asking me _why_ I had followed him, but then again it was probably pretty obvious.

I should just mind my own business from now on.

XXXXX

Thankfully everything was more or less back to normal on Thursday. Mitarai and I sat at the same table for lunch and talked about the usual stuff; homework and such, so it seems he has decided to forget my little ninja stunt of stalking him. Even so I made a mental note not to piss him off again... for the rest of the week, that is. That was probably the maximum amount of time I could keep myself from messing with him if a good chance came up.

Thanks to this my mind felt relatively light as I walked home. I munched at a rice cracker, having taken a detour through a convenience store on the way.

And right now, I wonder if I'd taken that detour if I'd known what would happen.

From an alleyway to my left, a woman clutching her bloody shoulder came out. And of course, that woman happened to be the one I had seen with Mitarai. Her name escaped from my memory right now, but it was definitely her. I couldn't be wrong about that hair.

"Are you alright?" I asked, going over to her. Her head whipped around, her wide eyed stare landing on me. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. Then, she grabbed my arm, asking: "You... aren't you a friend of Mitarai's?"

"Uh... yes?" did that sound like a question? I'm pretty sure it did.

"Please, you have to help him! There's no time left to find anyone else!" she yelled, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. I looked around. There were some people, few of them looking at us, but none came forward to see what was going on. There was _no way_ they didn't see the blood on the woman; it was clear to everyone watching that she needed help, yet no one made a move to come to her aid. I suppose this was up to me, whatever "this" was.

"Alright, calm down" I said "Just tell me what I need to do."

She didn't answer, just started to pull me along. I followed, all the while wondering if I should stop walking and just call an ambulance for her... and maybe the police, too. I don't think a wound like hers would come from just a little accident.

"We need to hurry..." the woman muttered. It looked like she _tried_ to run, but was too exhausted to do so and ended up just walking a bit faster than average. I had no trouble keeping up with her, but I was starting to get anxious about whatever I was being dragged in to.

"Umm... maybe we should call an ambulance first? You're blee-"

"There's no time!" she cut me off "If we don't hurry Mitarai might die!"

"What?" I asked, but she didn't explain, just kept walking. If that was true then it was all the more reason to call the ambulance... or maybe the police? But if we started to argue about it now we'd waste time; and if she was telling the truth (what reason would she even have to lie?), then we had to hurry.

As we turned corners here and there, I noticed there were fewer and fewer people around. Soon we were in a deserted, shady looking part of the town with its crumbling buildings and foul smell. Just what had Mitarai gotten himself in to!?

Suddenly, we both almost fell over as the surface we were walking on got all slippery. My first thought was that we had walked in to middle of a pool of blood, but I quickly noticed it was just water. Lots of water all around us. There were some spots that would probably have reached my ankles if I had gone to them, but for the most part there was just enough to get my shoes wet.

"This way" the blue haired woman said, dragging me around one last corner. She would've dragged me even further, but what I saw stopped me in my tracks. It was kind of odd considering I didn't even know _what_ I was looking at.

In front of me, there was this odd, big ball shaped... thing. It shone with weak, dark purple light. I don't know why, but somehow looking at it made my hair stand up. It made me feel weird and not in a good way; it felt like something was very out of place, very _wrong_.

"We need to break the sphere of demon energy and get Mitarai out of it!" the woman said, getting my attention away from the sphere. Mitarai was _inside_ of that thing? How had that happened!?

"...How?" I asked. I was skeptic, not knowing if she was telling the truth or not, but there was no room for doubt, for if it was true Mitarai was in big trouble and needed help. Quickly.

"Use this" is what she said as she handed me a long piece of wood, which had probably been used to block some door or window at some point. She had one too and she started whacking the sphere. I was about to join her, but I stopped as something long started to come out of the sphere, reaching towards her. She dodged the purple things, that reminded me a bit of hands, rather clumsily, but they didn't reach her. I took a few steps back, once again really insecure. What would happen if this thing caught me? And besides-

"How do you know if this even works?!" I called out to her "Shouldn't we just call the police or something!?"

"There's no time and I doubt the police would know how to handle this!" she called back "Just keep going; I managed to break it a little before; together we should be able to do enough damage and pull Mitarai out before this thing fixes itself!"

Fixes itself? Everything sounded so absurd, but then again that thing was definitely there, meaning it did exist, so there was no reason _not_ to believe her, right?

...I think too much. Right now we need to break that thing and get Mitarai out. Thinking can come after that.

With that in mind, I attacked the purple sphere repeatedly, dodging its attempts to grab me in the process. Barely most of the time; this thing was fast! And the thing about it fixing itself wasn't a lie either; it kept fixing whatever damage I made. I managed to cause some dents and small holes, but they were all covered relatively quickly. However, its recovering process seemed to get a little slower... was it weakening? That'd be good, even though it made me think that this thing could be a living being. But that was a problem for another time; I couldn't think about it no-

"Woah!" I narrowly dodged another one of its "hands." That was way too close!

"Waah!" my head whipped around. Seems like I wasn't the only one having trouble; this thing had finally caught my blue haired companion in its hands and was... pulling her inside of itself? That's what it looked like; her arms had disappeared in to the sphere up to her elbows already and she was sinking further and further.

I didn't really think it through; I was running towards her before I knew it. We hadn't been too far away from each other, just a few meters really, but as I charged towards her it felt like such a long distance. I raised the plank high up, bringing it down with full force to the spot where the woman was connected to the thing, hoping I wouldn't hurt her in the process. Fortunately, I managed to get a big chunk of that thing to fall off, freeing Mitarai's friend in the process, but I only noticed that later, for something else caught my attention.

I had gotten off such a big piece of the thing that I could now see inside of it, seeing a familiar red hood and the blond wearing it there. At first I thought the weird arms were holding him down, but soon realized that that wasn't the case. Those purple things on him were like some kind of leeches. Big, long leeches connected to the rest of the purple thing.

"Is it sucking blood out of him?" I asked, not expecting to get an answer. That's why I jumped when I actually got one: "No, it's sucking out his life energy. If we don't hurry all of it will be gone and he'll die!"

Did I understand any of that? Not really, not at all except the fact that it was bad. Really bad. We needed to get him out _now_.

The hole I had made was already closing up, but it wasn't completely gone. That was where I'd have to hit, and I'd have to hit _hard_. I needed to put my training in to a test here; it was now or never. Taking a few steps back, I threw away the plank. My blue haired companion started to protest, claiming it was too dangerous barehanded, but I simply ignored it and said: "I don't know if this'll work, but it might. Pay close attention. If I manage to create a hole big enough, pull Mitarai out."

"What?" I heard her ask that, but I was no longer paying any attention to her. I had to focus. What had Miss Ushiro said again? ...Make it clear to yourself what's your goal. Concentrate on that and that only. Gather your spirit energy to one point, and then release it... was that all? It better have been!

I took a deep breath, pulling my right arm back a little, squeezing my hand in to a fist. Now I had to concentrate my energy on it, slow and steady... completely steady...

...

GO!

I swung my fist, which glowed brighter than ever I noted, to the edge of the hole with all the power I could muster. The sphere broke under the pressure, and I could see Mitarai clearly now. Most of those freaking leeches had let go thanks to the impact, so now was our best chance to save him.

"Get him out!" I yelled as I started hitting the hole with my bare hands, the right one already losing its glow. Even so, the thing started to grumble apart rather easily now. I hit and even kicked the thing over and over again, not sure even sure what I did and when, just focusing on breaking the thing.

"I got him out!" that finally got my attention. I looked at the woman who was dragging Mitarai along little by little, away from me and that thing. My friend wasn't moving; were we too late?

"How is he?!" I yelled before running over to them. The monster or whatever could wait; we needed to get Mitarai to a hospital!

"Alive, but not for long if we don't get some help" the woman answered. I threw Mitarai's left arm over my shoulder and the woman took the cue, doing the same with his right. We started to walk slowly. Where to, I had no idea; I wasn't the one leading this group. And I was so tired... now that I think about it, Miss Ushiro might have told me not to overuse my spirit energy; apparently it would be very tiring and in most extreme cases, lead to death. But how much was too much? She hadn't said, or at least I think she hadn't.

"C'mon we have to hurry!" that woman said. Did she have to be so loud? Besides, I'm going as fast as I can! My tired legs won't move faster than this.

Tired... very tired... my eyelids are already starting to droop. I wonder if a quick rest would... hurt...

"Hey!"

What was she yelling about now?

"...Ng on... ere..."

I could still hear her, but I couldn't understand what she said. I could feel my legs give out from under me before darkness overtook everything.

 **A.N: Do the scenes here count as action scenes? Even if they don't, no worries; I'll put in more details when Yuri gets in to actual fights. Now she was just more or less hitting a wall, except not literally. Please tell me what you think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

I opened my eyes slowly, closing them right away as the bright light irritated them. I felt like I had just run a marathon; that's how tired I was. But why was I so tired again? Let's see...

I went to buy some rice crackers on my way home and then... then...

Oh _shit_!

I sat up quickly, his name leaving my lips before I could even think about it: "Mitarai!"

"Yes?"

I blinked, turning my head to the left and seeing the blonde in a bed next to mine. He didn't look too good, but at least he was alive.

...Wait, bed? Were we in a hospital?

"Where are we?" I asked, only then realizing that I should check on him first "And are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Exhausted, but fine." He answered "As for where we are... well, I don't know. I woke up around five minutes ago and didn't have the strength to even sit up. My mind's all blank; I can't remember anything after I left school."

"Anything?" I repeated and he nodded. Well, so much for him explaining to me what had happened. Looks like it'll need to be the other way around.

"I remember... some things" I started. I could tell from his face that I had his full attention now. But how should I tell him while I myself had no idea what exactly had happened?

"What things?"

"Well..." I trailed off when realization hit me. Maybe he'd believe me far easier than I thought; maybe what happened today had something to do with whatever he was hiding from me. Maybe I would finally be able to get some answers out of him... I mean I should be; whatever he was hiding had definitely something to do with Botan and-

Oh.

Now I remember! _That's_ what her name was! Not that it'd be much of use right now, but maybe it'd make explaining a little easier? ...Come to think of it, where was she anyway? Wasn't she with us when I passed out?

"Takanishi, you're doing it again" I heard Mitarai say. He was still lying down, an amused smile on his face. My own face didn't even flush anymore; spacing out in front of him was way too much of a routine by now for that.

"Right right" I said. I stretched a little, feeling sore all over, especially my right arm. Then, I started: "My memory's a little foggy, but I remember walking home from school when I ran in to that friend of yours, Botan."

When he heard the name, the look in Mitarai's eyes changed to one of... fright? Or was it just surprise?

"You ran in to Botan?" he repeated, frowning. When I nodded, he frowned even harder. I suppose he was desperately trying to remember what had happened, but by the looks of it he came up with nothing.

"Yeah" I said "She was bleeding pretty heavily when I saw her."

Mitarai looked pretty shocked about that, but it was too late to take it back. Besides, if I told him everything I could remember maybe he'd remember something, too. Maybe he knew how Botan had gotten hurt, not to mention what that thing was that almost... ate him? Sucked him dry? Something along those lines.

"She dragged me over to this... sphere shaped thing that you were trapped inside" I told him "And well, long story short: we beat it until we got you out and then started running away, not that we got far before I passed out. And then I woke up here."

There was a moment of silence before Mitarai commented with a lopsided smirk: "That... really was a long story put short."

I glared despite knowing that he was right. But I don't think we should be using time for a longer version right now, for we, or at least I, didn't even know where we were! I mean it would be logical to think that we were in a hospital, but it sure didn't look like it. Everything around us was wood, from the walls to the furniture. Not that there was much; the bed we were in, a small table between them and a chair in the corner of the room, near the door. There was no clock on the wall, no TV and, the biggest sign of all, no hospital equipment at all. The place lacked the "hospital smell", too.

"I wonder where we are..." I muttered. I was mostly just talking to myself, not really expecting an answer, but when Mitarai let out an uncertain "Uuh..." sound I turned to look at him fast.

"Uuh?" I repeated, narrowing my eyes at him as he tried to avoid my gaze "Do you know something?"

"..."

He stayed silent. I suppose he knew better than to lie to me at this point. Now what was he hiding?

"Spill" I commanded. When he said nothing I said: "Mitarai, I don't know what you've been up to but you can't keep me in the dark anymore. Whatever you're involved in, so am I. Did I ask for it? No, but thanks to your friend it happened, so the least you can do is to tell me what mess did I get myself in to!"

I pretty much yelled the last part, but it was justified. After everything that had happened I deserved to know, no matter if he liked it or not!

"...Well to be fair she probably wouldn't have even know who you were if you hadn't followed me on Sunday." the blonde spoke. From the way he said it I wouldn't be surprised if he had seen my outburst coming and come up with that before he could even use it. But that was not the point here.

"That's not the point!" I yelled, throwing my feet over the edge of the bed "What I'm saying is-"

I stopped suddenly as sharp pain went through the bottoms of my legs as soon as they made contact with the floor. I hissed, looking down only to see shards and remaining of some kind of pottery.

"Sorry, should've warned you" Mitarai said as I pulled my legs back on to the bed to inspect them "I dropped it when I tried to get up. Actually, the crash was probably what woke you up."

I glared at him before starting to pick the shards from my feet. Luckily not too many had gotten stuck in my feet, or at least that's the way it looked.

"Whatever" I said with a sigh "You still haven't answered my question."

"I believe I can help with that" I jumped as I heard the unfamiliar voice, cutting my hand with a shard I was removing while doing so. I turned towards the door, seeing a young, brown haired man in weird, old fashioned clothes standing in the now open doorway. In his mouth he had a... cigarette? Oddly shaped lollypop? ... A ball? Ugh, something round and light blue!

"Koenma" I heard Mitarai say. From the corner of my eye I could see him trying to sit up with not so good results... wait.

"You know this guy?" well now that I think about it, of course he does. He just said his name! Well, now he couldn't deny knowing what was going on. I looked at the blond, who seemed to wonder what or how much it was okay for him to say. Hah, think of it all you want but I'll make you spill the beans completely in the end!

"I'm his boss" ...or not; his boss seems to be willing to do it for him. If Mitarai's face was anything to go by he didn't exactly want that to get out.

"And what exactly does he do for work?" I asked. He opened his mouth to speak again, and now I realized that he spoke with that thing in his mouth, but had no chance to say anything before Mitarai beat him to it: "Sir, there's no reason to get her pulled in to this."

Pulled in to _what_ exactly? I wouldn't let him get away with the information this time, that's for sure.

"She's already pulled in to this" the man, Koenma is what Mitarai had called him, said, and quietly added "Has been for over two years to be exact..."

What? Did I mishear that? ...I probably did; there was no change in Mitarai's face when he said that. Or could it be that the blond just didn't hear him?

"How's Botan doing?" Mitarai asked. I gave him a small glare since it was obvious he was changing the subject, but he ignored it.

"Never better!" the blue haired woman called out as she slipped in from the open doorway. Was she already standing there, just waiting for him to ask or something? 'Cause the timing was just too perfect "I mean my shoulder does ache a little, but that's nothing compared to what happened to you two. How are you doing? Are you still ti- oh my god is that blood!?"

She ran over to me without even waiting for a reply, taking a hold of one of my feet. She examined it for a while before letting go, running out of the room, only to return seconds later with a first aid kit. She took my leg, saying: "I got this so just hold still."

I obeyed, finally taking in her appearance. Normally I wouldn't have really paid attention to what she wore, but you don't see a kimono often these days. It was pretty simple; pale pink with white ribbon. Nothing too fancy, so I suppose I can close out the option of her and Mitarai working as a pair of geishas...

...

Now that'd be a sight.

"How much do you two remember of what happened?" Koenma asked. Thankfully I didn't space out this time since after Mitarai told him he didn't remember anything the brunet turned to me. I told him what I had told the blond earlier, making sure not to blink so I wouldn't miss even the smallest reaction to my words.

"Long story short I see" he commented when I was finished. My eyebrow twitched "Exactly _how_ did you get Mitarai out?"

I froze. What should I answer to that? If I told them the truth, not that I even knew the details of how spirit energy worked, would they think I was crazy?

"I... just punched that thing hard enough, I guess" since Koenma didn't look convinced, I added "And it seemed to be a bit weakened even before that, so..."

"And of course she strengthened the punch with spirit energy!" Botan added cheerfully, not moving her gaze from my leg. I blinked, looking down at her. She knew what it was? ...Well, maybe that made sense since she dealt with, you know, whatever that thing was, but it was still a little surprising.

"I didn't know you could use spirit energy" Mitarai said. I looked at him, puzzled "Since when?"

"Since when have you even known what it is?" I shot back. He averted his gaze, looking anywhere but at me "Thought so."

"Ahem" Koenma cleared his throat, getting our attention again "Mitarai, I think it is best to tell her. We owe it to her after today after all."

By the look on his face Mitarai didn't appreciate this, but I sure did. Yuri 1, Mitarai 0... For once. Koenma turned to me, asking: "I take it you already know what spirit energy is, am I right?"

"...Yeah" I admitted after a moment of hesitation. Denying it now would be pointless "And you can also use it?"

How should I answer to that? I mean I _could_ use it, but it didn't really come naturally and didn't always work the way I wanted it to, so did it count as being able to use it?

"I'm working on it" is what I settled on saying. At least no one could say I was lying when I answered like that. Koenma seemed to think for a moment before he asked: "For how long?"

"A few weeks" I said. Silence took over the room as all three of them stared at me. What? Had I said something wrong?

"You managed to take down a barrier leech demon after a _few weeks_ of spirit energy training?" Koenma asked. Was it just me, or did he look like he didn't believe me? I looked at Mitarai, who was staring at me wide eyed, his mouth hanging open. Okay, what? Was it that big of a deal? And what the heck was a barrier leech demon?

"...Yeah?" I said, scratching my head "I mean, Botan and I did beat it up a little before it broke completely, but most of the damage was done by one hit."

"And Mitarai fought it before getting caught, too" Botan added, much to my surprise. I hadn't known the guy could fight "But even so, that's some talent she has!"

Is that so? Well, Miss Ushiro had called me talented as well, so I guess that was true... wait, that wasn't important right now. It was my turn to ask some questions, and I'd definitely get them answered this time!

"So, what exactly did you three get me involved in?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at Koenma. There was no point in trying to interrogate Mitarai since I never got anything out of him, and out of the remaining two people Koenma seemed like the bigger shot, so Koenma it was "Well?"

"I suppose you have the right to know everything after what happened today" Koenma said, ignoring Mitarai's shout of protest "As you know, my name is Koenma. I'm the ruler of the Spirit World."

He paused, and I waited for him to continue. When he didn't, I pressed him on: "And?"

"Normally people interrupt me at that point" Koenma said, which made me wonder how often did he end up in situations like these. Clearing his throat, Koenma continued: "In any case, I'm in charge of the world of spirits, and I also supervise the worlds of humans and demons."

Okay, _now_ I had questions. It wasn't easy to keep my mouth shut, but I forced myself to do so until he's done with his explanation. He'd probably tell more details anyway.

"In short, Spirit World is where the dead come to get their final judgments, Demon World is a place where the demons live, and you already know what the Human world is" Okay, that was simple so far "These days some demons can get special permissions to enter the Human World, but there are also those that go there without permission. And that's why Mitarai's here."

I looked at the blond in the bed besides mine in surprise, but he was too busy glaring at Koenma. Whatever he had been hiding was leaking out now, it seems.

"He works for me as a Spirit Detective, meaning he catches demons that go to the human world without permission and the one who break the rules there." Koenma said. Now that was... a lot to take in. I had had a lot of wild guesses about what he was up to, but a demon hunter? That had never crossed my mind... but then again I had only learned anything about demons recently. I would need to ask more about them, but first: "Why is he called "Spirit Detective" if he hunts down demons?"

"..."

"..."

"That's... a good question" Mitarai said. Turning to face Koenma, he asked: "Why is the term "Spirit Detective" and not "Demon Hunter" or something similar?"

I was still looking at Koenma, and I could see that Botan was, too. She was probably wondering about the same thing. Koenma averted his eyes before coughing suddenly, asking: "How much do you know about demons, Takanishi?"

...He totally changed the subject just now. Well, whatever. It wasn't that important.

I was about to say "nothing", but then I started wondering if that was really the case. Were all those stories parents scare their kids with true or not? Were the things in movies and books true or not? I had no way of knowing... did I even want to know more than this? Mitarai and his friends definitely know things I don't and I feel like I could get answers now if I wanted to, but do I? This was clearly dangerous; did I want to get mixed up in this?

"Takanishi?" Mitarai called out to me. I glanced at him, seeing him supporting his own weight with his elbows, trying to get up. Noticing this, Botan got out of my bed and went to his aid, remembering to dodge the shards on the floor at the last second.

"Don't push yourself too hard" she said to him, helping him to sit up. However, it seemed that he didn't even have the strength to sit up on his own. Noticing this, Botan snatched my pillow and used it, along with Mitarai's own, to support the blond so that he wasn't completely lying down.

"Thanks."

"Ahem" I heard Koenma clearing his throat again "Would you youngsters mind _paying attention_!"

I turned my gaze back to him. Right, he had asked a question. Oops.

"But sir, technically I'm older than you" Botan said. Huh, I didn't expect that. Not that she looked like a kid or Koenma like an old man, but he _did_ look older than her. I would've guessed Botan to be in her late teens or early twenties, and as for Koenma... well, in his twenties. In any case, the flustered look on Koenma's face was a real sight to see.

"Older?" Mitarai repeated, sounding pretty stunned "Just how ancient are you!?"

Did Mitarai say that on purpose? I could imagine him saying something like that to me these days, but was he so close to Botan that he really had the nerves to say that? Wait a-

"Ancient!?" Botan shrieked, sounding horrified. That was what I was wondering, too: even if she was older than Koenma, the word "ancient" was a bit much, wasn't it?

"Mitarai Kiyoshi, consider yourself lucky that you're already bedridden, otherwise you'd be in _serious trouble_!" the "ancient" woman yelled at the blond, turning away with a huff. Not being able to help myself, I asked from Koenma: "So how old are you exactly?"

"A bit over six hundred" Koenma answered, and my answer was immediate as I deadpanned: "Liar."

"What!?" Koenma was obviously taken aback, not to mention offended "It's true!"

Uhhuh, sure.

"Takanishi, you just fought a demon and recently found out about a supernatural power called spirit energy, yet you can't believe that someone is around six hundred years old?"

I opened my mouth, but soon closed it again. As annoying as it was to admit, Mitarai did have a point. I sighed, turning to Botan: "So if he's that old and you're even older, _how_ old are you?"

"Twenty" Botan chirped. I stared at her blankly before looking at Mitarai, saying: "Okay, now you guys lost me."

"Don't look at me; I don't get it either." the blond said, looking just as confused as I probably did. Good to know I'm not the only one in the dark here. As one we turned to Botan, asking for an explanation. She smiled sheepishly, saying: "We~ll the thing is, Sir Koenma and I age rather differently."

I raised my eyebrow, urging her to continue. That in itself wasn't explaining anything.

"Botan ages at same space as humans do, and her expected lifespan is around the same as an average human's. I on the other hand age much slower, and my expected lifespan is thousands of years." Koenma told. Okay, should I believe that or not? I mean, it sounded insane...

...

...Well, so did everything else these days. Whatever.

"And he actually looks like a toddler; the form he's in now is just an illusion" Mitarai filled in, but the smirk on his face made me think he was just pulling my leg.

"She didn't need to know that!" I heard Koenma yell. So the smirk wasn't there on my expense it seems. I turned back to look at him, eyeing him from head to toe. An illusion, huh? Well, it wasn't that weird at this point... hmm, maybe that blue thing in his mouth had something to do with it. Maybe it kept the illusion up?

"Would you mind to stop staring?" Koenma asked after a while, rather irritated if the twitching of his brow was anything to go by.

"Sorry" I said "As for your question... I don't know."

"Don't know?" he repeated, apparently not understanding what I meant. How should I explain this?

"Well there are lot of books about demons and such" I said, scratching my head. This made me look stupid and I don't like it, not one bit "And I've read quite a few but I have no idea what parts are true, if any."

"I see..." Koenma muttered. Then he turned to Mitarai, asking: "I take it you can't even sit up on your own?"

"No" the blond confirmed with a sigh. Koenma nodded, not seeming even a bit surprised.

"That's an after effect of being caught by the barrier leech demon" he said "A normal human wouldn't have lasted as long as you did, and even for a psychic such as yourself that is quite an impressing feat. What I don't know however is how it managed to catch you. They aren't exactly a strong species."

That definitely caught _my_ attention. Not strong species? It had taken all I had to take that thing down and now I was told that they were _weak_!?

"I'm sorry, my memory's still hazy" Mitarai told "I don't remember what happened."

As one the two men turned to Botan, clearly hoping that she'd know what had happened. The blue haired woman sat down on my bed, starting: "Well as we all know, barrier leech demons are rather weak, but if one manages to wrap itself around their pray, not many can get out."

Well, I certainly didn't know that. She spoke of it like it was common knowledge, but since she was mostly looking at Mitarai when she said this I suppose she wasn't completely sure about his level of information.

"Yeah, I recall you saying so" he confirmed. Smiling, Botan continued: "They usually move in big packs, attacking with the power of numbers. The one that attacked today didn't have his own kind with him, but he did have a few other demons for help. The barrier leech caught us off guard and Mitarai got caught."

When Botan didn't continue, Koenma asked: "And after that?"

"I was attacked" Botan said, rubbing her shoulder "But I got away and managed to get help. When I got back the other ones were gone."

Huh. It seems Botan was actually really strong or just really fast if she had gotten away from a bunch of demons.

"That doesn't sound right" Mitarai said and I turned my attention to his confused face "You can't fight and you aren't the fastest person around either. How come they didn't catch you?"

Okay, so maybe she wasn't that great after all.

"Huh?" Botan thought for a moment before it hit her "Oh right, they should've been able to..."

Without thinking, I voiced a guess: "To pass on a message?"

The three heads turn to me as one, questioning looks on their faces. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

"A message?" Botan repeats, and I can't help but shrug "Well I don't know, maybe they were trying to prove that you weren't big enough of a threat to go after or maybe they wanted to make sure someone knew that _they_ brought down the..." I paused. What was it again? Oh, right "Spirit detective."

"That is certainly possible" Koenma said with a sigh "The title of a Spirit Detective is still feared among demons thanks to Mitarai's predecessor and his team."

The person on the job before Mitarai, huh? I'll make a mental note to ask more about that later.

"As troublesome as this is, at the moment there's nothing you two can do, so I suppose it's for the best to send you home" Koenma says before his eyes lock with mine "Normally we'd wipe the memories of an outsider who finds out this much, but considering your high level of spirit awareness and the fact that you can actually use spirit energy, I'll let this one slide."

Wipe my memory? They were capable of something like that?

"Because if she forgot then she'd somehow get involved again?" Botan asked and to my surprise Koenma nodded "Well yes, she seems like a person like that."

Before I could ask what they meant, Mitarai added: "Yeah, she's definitely a person like that."

"Excuse me?" I said, a bit offended even though I wasn't sure if that was an insult or not "What exactly makes me a person like that?"

"It's just your natural curiosity" Mitarai said "You'd probably be drawn to demon energy or something strange you see if you'd have no idea of what could happen. With this you'll probably understand to stay away from demons."

"Probably" I agreed. That thing had been scary, and if it was labeled weak I sure as hell never wanted to meet a strong one "But I still want to keep practicing with spirit energy."

...Should I have voiced it differently? Asked if it was okay or something? Well, too late for that now.

"You can, just be careful with it" Koenma said "And make sure no one finds out. The existence of psychics and spirit energy isn't exactly common knowledge."

Yeah, I kind of figured that one out already. I wonder if I should tell them about Miss Ushiro... I don't want to get her in to any trouble, but if I don't say anything and they find out later won't _I_ be the one in trouble? ...Better not to let them find out, then.

"Yeah, got it."

"Now we just need to figure out an explanation as to why you went missing and do some arrangements before we can send you back." Koenma said. Puzzled, I asked: "Missing?"

"It's Friday evening" the brunette stated... wait, what? "You two were asleep about 24 hours straight."

 _What!?_ That means I missed a whole day of school, not to mention the fact that I hadn't gone home for the night. Mom's going to kill me!

"Both of us?" I heard Mitarai say, but I barely paid him any mind "I can understand that I slept for so long, but Takanishi too? The demon didn't get a hold of her, right?"

...Now that he mentions it, why did I sleep so long?

"It's because of the spirit energy overuse; nothing to worry about as long as she doesn't make it a habit" Koenma said "Anyway, as I was saying-"

"Already taken care of, sir!" Botan quipped, getting a glare from Koenma. I think he doesn't take it well when he gets interrupted.

"What did you come up with?" Mitarai asked.

"Well I called Shizuru and we came up with the excuse of you two visiting her and the three of you getting stuck in the basement, not getting out until Kuwabara came home!" Botan said, smiling like she was proud of herself. I had no idea who these "Shizuru" or "Kuwabara" were, but I suppose the woman knows what she's doing... hopefully.

"I suppose that'll work" Koenma said "But what about Mitarai's exhaustion? He won't be in any condition to go to school for a week, possibly more."

"Umm..." Botan mutters, pausing to think "There was a... gas leak?"

I stare at her, and so do the other two.

"...I'll come up with something" Koenma finally says "But you, Takanishi, can use Shizuru as an excuse since you don't seem to have any major problems moving around."

Yeah, I'll do that, even if I don't know who that even is. And mom's sure as hell going to yell at me anyway.

 **A.N: Finally done with it! I was planning on making all chapters around 2000 words long, but I couldn't find a good spot to stop so this got a little longer. Not that it's really** _ **long**_ **; more like average at best, but for this story it is longer than usual... which you readers know of course.**

 **And yeah, "Barrier Leech Demon" is a pathetic name, but it fits.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

I had called mom on my way home and, needless to say, she was mad. Not you broke your curfew -kind of mad, more like you burned the house down –kind of mad... not that I've ever done _that_. Still, it had to be bad and I wondered if it was too late to turn back. Maybe I could go to Mitarai's for the night? ...Bad idea; he was in trouble too. I'd just have to put up with this like a proper adult. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and went in, walking straight in to the kitchen where I knew my mom would be.

"...Hi mom" was all I said. I just couldn't come up with anything better or any excuses. Her back was to the door as she chopped vegetables, but she turned to look my way when I spoke.

"Finally home I see" she said, putting the knife down before turning to me fully, hands on her hips "And what do you have to say to defend yourself?"

"Well we got stuck in the basement-"I told, starting the story I had created together with Mitarai so that our stories would match. And I think I would've been able to follow the script perfectly had mom not interrupted me: "You already told me that in the phone. What I want to know is _how_ did you get stuck in that basement?"

"We went to get some ingredients for dinner and Mitarai forgot to secure the heavy door" I said "It closed and we couldn't open it from the inside, so we were stuck."

"And it took three people?" mom asked. Oops, we hadn't thought about that. I need to think of something and _quick_.

"Fine" I muttered "We were actually playing hide and seek. I didn't know how hard the door would be to open and closed it, getting all three of us stuck."

Please fall for it.

"Hide and seek? In your age?"

"Yes"

Mom stared at me for a moment, clearly looking for signs that would tell if I was lying or not. I almost cracked, but right before it she sighed.

"Alright, I believe you" she said, smiling "I'm actually pretty relieved; I thought you two would've gotten stuck in the basement while doing something indecent."

Indecent? ...Oh hell!

"Mom!" I yelled, a slight blush making its way to my face "I've told you we're not like that! Besides, there were _three of us_ in that basement!"

Mom rolled her eyes, saying: "Well, when your father and I were young we-"

"Aaah!" I interrupted her before covering my ears. Gosh "I really, _really_ don't need to know!"

"Just messing with you honey" mom said with a laugh "But in all seriousness: the only reason I didn't inform the police was because I heard from Kiyoshi's mom that he wasn't home either, so we figured out you two were together somewhere."

"Does dad think that too?" I asked immediately. If he was thinking of something like that then I'd be in big trouble... which I shouldn't be since I'm already 18, soon turning 19 and am almost an adult but my dad was old fashioned.

"He doesn't know anything; by "we" I meant myself and Mrs. Mitarai" thank god "And we can keep it that way if nothing indecent happened."

"It didn't" I insisted, and while she probably believed me I had a feeling I'd be hearing about this for a while. Great, just great.

XXXXX

The next day I went directly to Mitarai's place after school, for I still had some questions. A lot of questions, actually; I felt like I didn't know him at all! I mean I know I didn't really have the right to be offended about being left in the dark about all this stuff since I did the same to him, but still! He just makes me so angry!

He was in bed, but managed to sit up without any help this time, even if he did seem to have some difficulties with it.

"So how'd you explain your condition to your parents?" I asked him after closing the door.

"I told them that I work as an assistant for a detective from time to time and said there was an accident with some unknown drug at work" he told me. I raised an eyebrow, but his face didn't change. I suppose he really did use that excuse, but how on earth did his parents buy that!?

"You actually got them to believe that?"

"I know an actual detective who's covering for me" he told, but I'm not sure if I should believe it. He probably saw my disbelief and added: "And that detective is friends with Botan and Koenma."

Okay, so maybe he did use that excuse, but that led to another question: "How come your parents let you work with a detective? Even if they don't know about demons they're sure to think it's dangerous."

"Well, that's..." he paused like he didn't want to say more, but I'd have none of it. Not anymore "It's what? Start talking."

He was uneasy, I could tell. Well, he usually was when I interrogated him, but this time there seemed to be something more to it. Then, he said: "It's not... an easy subject to talk about. Maybe I'll tell you some other time."

"Ri~ght" I said sarcastically. He glared at me after that, not liking my attitude apparently. Well, I didn't like his, either.

"Fine, I'll tell you what you want to know if you tell me what I want to know" he said suddenly, catching me completely off guard. There was definitely some kind of catch here; it couldn't be that easy. Well, if one does not play one cannot win.

"Then what is it that you want to know?"

"I want to know what happened that night" what night? "Back when you were standing on the bridge in high school."

My mind was blank for a good while before I realized what he meant. I mean, it was clear from the first second, but I just had a hard time believing that he'd really mean _that_ night. Why would he want to know about it anyway? He hadn't asked anything since the night itself, he hadn't even brought it up. Why the sudden interest? Unless...

"You're only asking that because you _know_ I won't answer" I concluded, glaring at him "That way you won't feel guilty about keeping secrets even though you _know_ you're being unreasonable."

"How could I know if I'm being unreasonable or not?" he asked me "You never told me what happened, so how could I know how off limits the subject is?"

Is he kidding me?

"Shouldn't the fact that I _haven't_ talked about it be enough of a hint?" I asked him, not bothering to try and control my anger. If he wasn't in such a bad condition I might actually punch him.

"And why do you think _I_ don't want to talk about certain things?" Mitarai asked, lying back down "What makes you think that the things _I_ am hiding are easier to talk about than the things you hide?"

I was about to yell at him, but stopped myself at the last second. I hadn't told him what happened that night, but he wasn't stupid. He must have put the pieces of what he _did_ know together and gotten some kind of idea, probably close to the truth. But what did _I_ know about what _he_ was hiding? I know that he was bullied before he started high school, but not any details. Actually, I don't think I know anything about him aside from that fact that happened to him before we started going to the same school. While I know the basic methods of junior high bullying, there was nothing to guarantee that he hadn't been trough something worse. And whatever it was it seemed to have something to do with all the things he kept hiding. That would explain why he had insisted to stay quiet about it for so long.

"Takanishi?"

"Sorry" I said "I shouldn't press you about matters I know nothing about."

In the end, I knew _nothing_ about him. I had thought about it before too, but in the recent days the idea had gotten clearer and clearer. Were we even friends?

"Apology accepted" Mitarai said, still lying down "And I'm sorry too; for bringing it up. I just didn't know how else to get the point across."

"Yeah, I get it" I told him, pulling a chair from under his table and sitting down "It was my fault."

"So we're good?"

"Yeah" I confirmed, and we fell in to more or less comfortable silence. I sat in his chair, wondering what I should say. I wanted to ask more about spirit energy, demons and such, but would that be counted as prying in to his personal business again? I don't want to anger him, but… ah, to hell with it, I'll try and see what happens!

"…So, is there something you can tell me about spirit energy or demons that I don't already know?" I asked. He was silent for a moment and since I couldn't see his face I feared I pissed him off again, but eventually he spoke: "The less you know the safer you are."

Ignorance is bliss, huh? I get that, but I've never been the kind of person to accept that, even though I know there have been times that I should have. I bit my lip, wondering how I should go about this to make him talk. Backing out is not an option unless Mitarai gets so angry that he'll kick me out of the room.

"But I suppose you aren't the kind of person to just drop something once it catches your attention" he said with a sigh, getting my full attention. Too bad I still couldn't see his face "If I don't tell you you'll just find someone else who will, won't you?"

"That's the plan" I said with a grin. Well, that or continue subtly trying to get the information out of him "You know me too well."

Far, far better than I knew him.

"Not really, you're just predictable" ouch. Well, at least I knew _one_ thing about the blond: sometimes he could be a real asshole "What do you want me to start with?"

"Umm…" I suppose I hadn't thought things that far. What would be most important? It probably wouldn't hurt to know a thing or two about demons just in case, but at the moment information about spirit energy seemed to be more useful "How exactly does spirit energy work? I mean, I know I somehow make it work by concentrating on… something but… uuh…"

I definitely sounded like an idiot here. I could make it work, but I had no idea _how_ it worked. I should've asked Miss Ushiro more about that.

"I'm not sure myself" Mitarai told, sitting up again "Every human has spirit energy, but only those with spirit awareness can use it, some more than the others. Sometimes spirit awareness runs in the family, and in those cases, it's usually very strong… come to think of it, have you noticed anything that would hint that your parents can use it? Your spirit energy is pretty strong after all."

I blinked, not believing my ears. This stuff was _hereditary_? That thought had never even crossed my mind. _Could_ my parents know something?

"No" I finally said before he could say that I was spacing out again "But the thought never occurred to me, so it's not like I kept an eye out for things like that. I'll keep it in mind from now on."

A thought occurred to me, and I realized that it might be a forbidden topic only after I had said it: "What about your parents?"

Thankfully, Mitarai didn't seem to mind.

"They have no spirit awareness" he simply said "Believe me, if they did I would've noticed it by now."

As much as I wanted to ask about it, something told me that _that_ was one of the forbidden topics… maybe. Maybe not, but I wasn't going to risk it.

"So what else do you know?" I asked, wanting to continue where we left off. Mitarai thought for a moment, either wondering where exactly he left off or how to put what he knew in to words. My guess was on the later.

"Spirit energy is strongly connected on emotions" he said "When feeling a strong emotion, like anger or happiness, it's easier to bring out, but there is a setback."

"A setback?"

"While it's easier to bring out the energy while being influenced by strong emotions, it is also harder to control it that way. That's why it's best not to use emotions to bring it forward despite it being easier, but just learn to focus." I averted my gaze when he told this. Oops, it seems I've made a rookie mistake. "Of course, everyone lose control sometimes and act on their emotions, but the best way is to separate them from the use of spirit energy entirely… or at the very least, it's the safest way."

Safest way, huh? Okay, no more using anger to bring out my spirit energy… but that might take some time to get used to. Suddenly Mitarai smirked, that annoying know it all -look rising to his face.

"That's exactly what you've been doing, isn't it?" he asked, not that he really needed to. He knew he was right. I stuck my tongue out at him, saying: "Oh shut up, it was just a beginner's mistake. Bet you did something similar when you first started."

He flinched, which was when I realized that that was the wrong thing to say. I suppose I can't ask him how he found out about spirit energy now, either.

"…Sorry. Sensitive topic?"

"It's okay" he said with a sigh, looking down "You couldn't have known."

 _Exactly,_ I couldn't have. I don't even know him, not really. It was pretty depressing… better change the topic before either of us gets too distracted. Hopefully this subject isn't off limits: "So what kind of things can one do with spirit energy? I get a power boost, but surely there are some other kind of powers, too, right?"

"Yes, many kinds" Mitarai told me "I know people with very simple powers like yours, but I also know some with very complicated ones. Some can even do many different things, but they are usually either very talented or have gone through a lot of training."

So, my power is simple? I looked down at my hands, feeling a bit disappointed… but it made sense that simply concentrating the energy on one spot wasn't the hardest thing. Looking at the blond again, I asked him: "So what can _you_ do?"

He seemed to have been expecting this question, yet he took a while before answering: "Well, it's complicated. I'm one of the people with an ability called "Territory" that came to existence some years back. Those with that particular ability can more or less control things inside their own territory… but there are lot of different ones; it's rather hard to explain."

Naw, really? Like I didn't figure that part out from his explanation; I didn't understand the half of it. And if there really were many different ways to use this "territory power" then that didn't really even answer my question.

"Again: what can you do? That didn't really answer the question" I wonder if he was trying to avoid answering me for some reason.

"It really is hard to explain" Mitarai said. Then, I saw his face lit up, meaning he probably got an idea "How about I just show you?"

My first thought was "Hell yeah!" but if I think about it rationally, was it really a good idea? Was it _safe_? As I told my concern to him, he laughed and assured it was completely safe.

"I have this perfectly under control" he added. I wonder if he was trying to cease my worries or was simply bragging… maybe a bit of both?

"Just bring me a pair of scissors"

"Scissors?" I repeated, confused. Did he need scissors to activate his power? "Why?"

He shrugged, saying: "A knife would work too, but I have scissors somewhere back there on the desk, so…"

He trailed off, and I took it as a hint to just find what he asked for. I'd just have to see for myself. Luckily, he kept his desk pretty tidy and I found an old pair of scissors among some pens in no time. They seemed a bit dull, but maybe they'd work.

As I turned around to go give him the scissors, I noticed that he was holding a glass of water he had taken from his bedside table. Noticing my gaze, he simply said: "I need this, too."

I raised an eyebrow, but brought him what he wanted anyway. It seems he needs two things in order for his power to work: water and something sharp. Maybe he wasn't so good after all since he needed things to help him unlike I do?

…Yeah, way to make yourself feel better Yuri. You still suck.

Mitarai took the scissors looking at them with a frown. Were they too dull after all? …Apparently not since he sliced a small wound on his finger with them, letting a drop of blood to fall in the glass.

"Watch" he said. Wondering what he had thought I had been doing until then, I focused my attention on the glass. As the blood mixed with water I swear I saw something move in it. I glanced at Mitarai, who was staring at the glass with a frown. Looking back, my eyes widened as I saw the water rising, but I shouldn't have been surprised. Not about _that,_ I mean. The fact that the water suddenly _literally_ jumped out of the glass was definitely more surprising. I took a step back, not taking my eyes off of the little water creature that was now walking on Mitarai's bed and leaving behind small, wet spots. The thing had a shape of a human… sort of. It had a head attached to a torso, as well as two legs which it walked with and two hands. But there were no fingers or toes; it's limbs were kind of like Winnie the Pooh´s.

…Now it stopped walking and is just standing there. Mitarai did say this was completely safe, but I wonder if it was safe to touch it. I mean it looked harmless enough, but… am I just coming up with excuses here? Surely Mitarai would've said something if it was dangerous to touch it. That or he'll stop me from doing so once he notices. Yep, it was fine to try.

I went closer, slowly extending my hand towards the thing, but it didn't move. I suppose it won't bite… not that it has a mouth in the first place. I moved my hand closer, ending up poking it with one finger. It sunk in, but nothing else happened. As I pulled my finger out I noted it was slightly harder than if I'd just take it out of class of water, but I might have just imagined it as well. Deciding to try again, I attempted to touch it with my whole hand again, but as I did so it collapsed, turning back in to water and falling on the bed. Oops.

"Looks like I broke it" I said, smiling sheepishly as I hoped that my friend wouldn't get too angry with me "Sorry."

When the blond didn't answer I looked up, seeing him hunched over and breathing heavily. Something was wrong.

"Mitarai?" I asked. When he didn't answer I reached my hand over to him, but before I could even touch him he went slack, falling off the bed with a thud.

"MITARAI!"

 **A.N: I seem to have trouble sticking with the 2000 words -rule… well, no one probably minds as long as I keep going over it instead of under it. But then again if people tend to skip author's notes, which many probably do, they don't know about it in the first place, so no harm done? Lol.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Screaming out like that was stupid; it's not like I didn't know that, but at that moment it was simply an automatic reaction to the situation at hand. Forcing myself to calm down a little, I kneeled next to the hopefully just unconscious blond, shaking him. No reaction… how was one supposed to act in these situations again? Uuh… that's right, I needed to check the pulse first since I wasn't sure what had happened. If I recall correctly it's easier to find from the neck than wrist, so that's what I'll do. I wasn't really sure _where_ on the neck it should be found, but I'd seen it on TV so it couldn't be too hard… and there it is! I think… yes, I could definitely feel his pulse. That was good. Now what? Call an ambulance?

"Is everything alright?" I jumped, looking behind me. That sounded like Mrs. Mitarai; she must've heard my yell and was now behind the door. Of course, I was such an idiot! The first thing I should've done was to go tell her!

"Kiyoshi fainted!" I called back as a reply. It was weird to call Mitarai by his first name, but it would've also been weird to use his last name while talking to his mom. Besides I have heard him use my first name when talking to my mom, too.

Mrs. Mitarai opened the door, swiftly coming to my side as she asked: "What happened?"

"He- "I stopped. How much did Mitarai say his parents knew about spirit energy? Not much, if anything "I don't know; he just collapsed out of nowhere!"

She tried his pulse too. After finding it she seemed to relax a bit. Sighing, she said: "Help me to put him in the bed."

I complied, and after Mitarai was on the bed she took the glass from earlier off the bed and put it on the table. Good thing it hadn't fallen on the floor and gotten broken; I didn't feel like dealing with glass shards. I watched as Mrs. Mitarai started to move her son's body again, putting his other hand on his chest and then bending his knee. She bent his other arm up and pulled him on to his side, putting the arm that had been on his chest under his head. I think I've seen all this somewhere before…

"This is what you need to do if someone is unconscious but breathing" she told me. Turning to me fully, she said: "Normally, you should call an ambulance first, but since this is my son we're talking about it's fine to do it in this order."

What did she mean by that? Did this happen often? I asked her that, and she just smiled sadly.

"It's rather common; the doctor said that his body is just weak and that's why this keeps happening."

Really now? Something about that felt like a lie; she wasn't telling me everything. Mitarai had told me the excuse he'd given to his parents, so she probably thought it was about drugs and didn't want to tell me, but I had been with him and she knew it! So, what didn't she want to tell me?

"Is that so?" I asked, and it was probably the tone of my voice that got her smile to disappear. We stared at each other, me not wanting to back out and her probably wondering what I knew. Eventually, she averted her eyes.

"Not really, as I'm sure you already know since you were with him." she said with a sigh "Things like this have been happening after he started working for that detective. It's… worrisome."

So, this was a usual occurrence? Then why didn't she tell him to stop? I bit my lip, wondering if I should voice my thoughts or not, but she continued before I could.

"Even if he's exhausted, this isn't normal. I worry that he takes some kind of drug at work on regular basic, but doctors haven't found anything…" as she trailed off, another question popped in to my head, one that seemed far more appropriate than my first: "Why are you telling me this?"

The sad smile returned, and Mrs. Mitarai sat next to her son on the bed before answering: "Because you're his only close friend that I can talk to."

I raised an eyebrow, wondering what she meant by that.

"The others... they don't come here often, and Kiyoshi doesn't really talk about them, either. I can barely put together their names and faces" she turned to Mitarai, caressing his hair "But he talks about _you_ a lot. He never refuses to answer my questions if I ask something about you, either. But it's different with the other people he's close with."

"Why?" I blurted out, immediately wondering if it was insensitive. I was about to apologize, but she continues again before I could: "I don't know. I know you two met in high school, but his other friends… he was in junior high back then, but he didn't meet them there. Those years were… _hard_ for my son."

She knew he had been bullied? Well, of course she did. Now that I think of it, Mitarai once said-

"He once told me how he chose "the wrong bath"" as I said this his mother visibly tensed "But that there was someone who showed him the right way again and that that person is the reason for who he is today."

I watched her again. She stayed quiet, unmoving before she asked: "Did he tell you the person's name?"

"No" I replied, but I could've been wrong. It was a long time ago "But from what I gathered it was someone who could easily be judged as a bad person from appearance alone."

"Kuwabara" she said immediately. Unfortunately, the name didn't ring any bell to me "He looks and at times acts like a delinquent, but I know my son respects him more than anyone ever. I can see it from his eyes."

She laughed, saying: "Once I questioned him if Kuwabara was really the kind of person he should hang out with, and the anger I saw in his eyes after asking that… I had thought I'd never have to see that look again. I thought it was already over… but I suppose Kuwabara was the one that took that look away."

Now she completely lost me, but now I knew for a fact that this was not something I should be asking about, so I didn't. I decided to just listen quietly as long as she had something to say.

"That is why I'm glad I know at least someone important from his life" she said "And that there is someone he can talk to, since he no longer confides in his parents."

She was sad about that, I could tell. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Mitarai and I weren't nearly as close as she seemed to think. Heck, apparently, we weren't as close as _I_ had thought. I just wish none of this showed on my face right now.

"I just hope that the news about his job won't drive you away" now this caught my attention. I might be a little mad that he hadn't told me about that, but not _that_ mad… then again maybe I would be if I had found out before the whole spirit energy thing; it was understandable that he wanted to keep that hidden.

"No need to worry about that" I told her, suddenly remembering what I had told my own mother "I told mom we got stuck in Kiyoshi's friend's basement because- "

"Yes, I heard about the picking up food -excuse" she told me "My son tried it on me too, but knowing his job it wasn't hard to realize he was lying. But the idea of a cover up story was good; you can't exactly tell your mother that you were stuck hiding from an angry drug dealer."

Hiding from a drug dealer? Got it! Mitarai should've told me that when he had a chance though…

"I also hope you won't do so from now on either" Mrs. Mitarai said. She sounded apologetic, but there was a certain stern look in her eyes, like a warning "I don't know the details of how you got involved with this and I realize it seems like my son is up to something bad, but he isn't. Of that I'm sure, so please don't cause us any trouble."

"I won't" I said. Glancing at Mitarai, I added as an honest after thought: "Or I'll try not to. Your son seems to think I'm a magnet for trouble."

Surprisingly, Mrs. Mitarai just snorted at that.

"He's the trouble magnet here if anyone" she said. Standing up, she added: "But please, stay by his side. I don't know why, but something in him changed around the time you two became friends. And the change was for better."

I had no idea what to say to that, so I just nodded. Silence overtook us, but it didn't seem to bother Mrs. Mitarai too much. Too bad I couldn't say the same about myself.

"I should probably go" I told her "My mom's still a little mad about yesterday, so…"

It wasn't completely a lie, but I don't think mom would flip even if I did go home late. The air was just too serious and tense here; I had to get out.

"Of course, you shouldn't make her worry" Mrs. Mitarai said "Have a safe trip home."

Before that wouldn't have meant anything, but after what happened a few days ago… yeah, I hoped it'd be a safe trip, too.

"I'll try" I told her, and we left Mitarai's room as his mother walked me to the door. I bowed and walked out of the front door, but before she could close it I remembered something and turned back around.

"Um, my mom didn't exactly buy the excuse I gave her, so I told her that we got stuck while playing hide and seek" Mrs. Mitarai raised an eyebrow at this, asking: "And she believed that?"

"She was a bit skeptical, but I think so" I told honestly, adjusting my school bag on my shoulder "So if she calls- "

"I'll fill my son in with the new version of the story" she finished, which I was grateful for. If mom actually called them and told I had told her a different version they couldn't match with she'd know I'd lied. Thankfully, that was now taken care of.

"Thank you" I said, bowing to her once more before walking off.

XXXXX

 _It was cold; that was the first thing my panic-stricken mind realized as I hit the water after falling off the bridge. I had never been the best swimmer, but I was average, so for a split second I thought I'd be fine; that I'd be able to swim to the shore._

 _That was very naïve of me._

 _The current was strong; I think even pro swimmers would have had trouble with it. And the water was cold, so cold. Maybe that alone would kill me; maybe the current wouldn't really play a part in my death. Or maybe I'd just drown; no matter how much I tried I couldn't get to surface. It was already getting hard to hold the air in my lungs; I wouldn't be able to handle this for long anymore._

 _As the lack of oxygen started to get to me and I started to lose focus, I could've sworn I saw something move. Something big, and it was coming towards me._

 _And then everything went black._

 **A.N: Who can guess what the ending is about? …Well, probably everyone who've actually read the whole story. :p This isn't getting too boring, is it? We should have some action after a chapter or two, but… not sure since I always publish the chapters right after writing then (or well, I do read them through for grammar mistakes and such first but you know what I mean.)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

I woke up with a jolt, sitting up in my bed. I barely registered my heavy breathing and sweat covered body as my eyes darted around the room, confirming that I was indeed at home and in my own bed. A nightmare, just a nightmare.

…No, it was not. More like a memory, a memory of _that night_. Well, I do prefer recalling almost drowning than something else that happened back then. That'd be- …no, I'm not going there. Wiping sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand, I started to think about the dream, trying to remember as much as I could. I'm sure there was something odd there, something I couldn't remember… had I dreamed about something that was completely unrelated to that night, or was I almost remembering something I had forgotten? Which was it?

Shaking my head, I decided that now was not the right time to think about it, whatever _it_ was. If it was something important I'd remember it eventually, right?

I looked at the clock on my nightstand, noticing it was barely 5:30 am. I groaned. That was too early, especiallyfor a _Sunday_ morning! Falling on my back, I decided to try to get some more sleep.

XXXXX

The next week was uneventful, to put it simple. Mitarai wasn't in the condition to return to school yet and since his fainting back then had been because of spirit energy overuse, or so he said, I didn't pay him long visits. As impatient as I was, my questions for him could wait until he got better. Of course, his mother noticed how short my visits were too and thought I was avoiding her son. It took quite a while to convince her that that wasn't the case and that I just didn't want to bother him too much since he was still recovering but eventually she did believe it. And she'd better since it was true.

Almost two weeks after the whole incident, I went to visit Mitarai again. His mother had said he could return to school next week, so I was supposed to go over and help him catch up with all the work. I knocked on the door of his room, not daring to just walk in after that one time he had been changing clothes when I had done that. After hearing a muffled "come in" I opened the door, surprised to find the blue haired girl there as well. And yeah, I forgot her name again.

"Oh, it's you, Takanishi" Mitarai said, making me raise an eyebrow. Was he expecting someone else? "You remember Botan, right?"

Right, her name was Botan! I need to try and remember it from now on, just in case.

"Yeah" I said, looking at the fidgety girl. She probably sensed my gaze on her or something since the next moment she turned her attention to me fully.

"And I remember you, too" she said "Takanishi Yu- uuh… Yumi?"

"Close" I said "Yuri."

"Right" she said, laughing nervously as she scratched the back of her head "So you came to see Mitarai? Hehe, me too, what a coincidence!"

I blinked twice before narrowing my eyes. Somehow, she sounded overly nervous. I glanced at Mitarai, who in return averted his eyes slightly as I did so. That confirmed it; something was up.

"Yeah, a big coincidence that I also came to see him _to his house_ " I said, getting more nervous laughter out of her "Now will one of you tell me what you're up to or do I need to find out on my own?"

The two looked at each other in alert. If I had been unsure before, I certainly wasn't now. They definitely gave themselves away with that.

"What we're up to?" Botan repeated, once again laughing nervously. This time the fact that she was pretending was even more obvious than before "We aren't up to anything. Right, Mitarai?"

The blond opened his mouth, but closed it again as I glared at him. He glanced at Botan before sighing, saying: "It's work, that's all I can say. Please forget you saw or heard anything."

At least he was being honest with me for once… wait. He was fully dressed, having even one of his blue sweaters on. He wouldn't need that at this time of the year if he was planning on staying home.

"You aren't planning on going demon hunting, are you?" I asked. My friend didn't say anything, but as Botan let out a weird sound of discomfort I knew I'd guessed right "You _can't_ , not in that condition. You could get yourself killed!"

"I have to" Mitarai simply said, opening his window. Was he planning to go out from that? It'd make sense; his mother wouldn't let him go out in that condition. Well, neither would I, especially when he planned to do something so dangerous.

"Oh no you don't" I said, closing the door and walking over to him, forcing the window shut "You aren't putting your life in danger just because some spiritual leader or something tells you to!"

"That's my jo- "

"Sir Koenma is the _prince_ of the Spirit World, not some spiritual leader!" Botan shrieked, interrupting Mitarai who flinched at the loud noise along with me. I turned my angry gaze to Botan, noting that she wasn't wearing a kimono this time, but ordinary jeans and a red blouse. But that wasn't important right now. With equal rage, I shouted: "He can be _God_ for all I care but Mitarai's not going!"

"Technically he is a god…" Mitarai muttered, but my brain didn't exactly register it at the moment as I continued: "If he faces a strong demon like last time he could die! Haven't you seen the condition he's in!?"

Botan looked hurt after that, and for a split second I felt sorry for her, but quickly brushed that feeling aside. If her feelings had to be hurt in order for her to understand then so be it; I'd prefer that anytime over Mitarai getting hurt.

"I know that" she said. I could see her clenching her fists as she tried to keep on a neutral face "But there's no choice. If we don't go- "

"Then send someone else!" I interrupted her. Pointing at Mitarai, I yelled: "Surely Koenma has other subordinates that can take this half dead blonde's place for the time being!"

"He doesn't" Mitarai said simply just before Botan could say anything back. I turned to him in surprise, not sure if I should believe him. Surely a big shot like Koenma had to have more men working for him than just Mitarai. He seemed to notice my disbelief since he continued: "The others have been handling my part this past few weeks, but right now everyone else is occupied; I'm the only one who can handle this. We don't know what or who is causing it, but criminal demon activity in both human and demon worlds is getting higher and higher. I can't afford to stay bedridden anymore; if I don't go now people will _definitely_ die."

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. That was lot of new information I wasn't prepared for. Just what-

"Mitarai, you can't tell this stuff to outsiders!" Botan shrieked, a bit too late. Coming to shake his shoulders, she asked: "What _happened_ to you?! Usually you follow the rules so obediently!"

Mitarai removed the woman's arms. Not harshly, but with a look stern enough that made her stop.

"She would've been persistent until I told her" yep, that I would have been "And in the worst-case scenario she could've followed us and gotten herself in danger, perhaps other people too!" …As much as I didn't want to admit it, he was probably right about that one, too.

"He's right, you know" I cut in, getting their attention. Botan sighed, saying: "Well, it can't be helped. At least now that you know you can just go home safely."

I was probably going to regret saying what I'm about to say and doing what I'm about to do, but I'll do it all anyway.

"Like hell" I said, ignoring Mitarai's sigh and mutter of how he knew this was going to happen "I want to help and I _will_ help, no matter if you like it or not."

"You can't- "

"Actually, we could use some help" Mitarai said suddenly, surprising the both of us.

"What?" Botan asked, voicing my thoughts.

"You can help us get past mom; it'll be easier to go from the front door than the window after all" he said.

"Oh, that she can do!" Botan agreed, brightening up. I didn't like the sound of this; were they planning to have me cover for them?

"First, Botan leaves. We'll wait from five to ten minutes and leave too. If my mom says anything about it you'll just have to convince her that you're taking me out for some fresh air and slight exercise. She shouldn't suspect anything as long as it's you."

That sounded logical enough and was definitely something I _could_ do, but _should_ I? Would it really be right of me to help a sick person to sneak out so he can fight some dangerous demons and perhaps even die? No matter how I thought of it, it just didn't seem right.

"Takanishi" he said. I looked at him, and I'm sure he could see the hesitation on my face "I'll do this, with or without your help, but help would really be welcome. This way I wouldn't have to worry about mom coming to my room and noticing me being gone, either."

I was going to regret this, wasn't I?

"Alright" I said with a sigh. Pointing to Mitarai, I added: "But _you_ better come back alive or I'll skin _you_ " I pointed at Botan "And your boss and make you regret the day you were born! Is that clear?"

Botan eeped, taking a step back before squeaking out: "Crystal!"

"Good" I said "Now get going; the cripple and I will follow after you in ten minutes."

"Yes ma'am!" Botan said with a salute before running off. Eh, did I scare her? Surely that wasn't possible; I mean she hunted demons for a living, right?

"Cripple, you say?"

...Oops.

"Well, I'm not exactly wrong, am I?" I asked, meeting Mitarai's unimpressed stare "Oh come on; not long ago you couldn't even stand! If that doesn't make you a cripple then what does?"

"Fair enough" Mitarai said with a sigh, sitting on his bed. Then, a silence followed. There was nothing new in that, but somehow, the atmosphere was off.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?" I asked, grimacing as he answered: "Obviously."

Sighing, I decided that the sooner I tried to make things up the better.

"I'm sorry, I just…" I trailed off. How should I put it? "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"The feeling's mutual" he said "Which is why I didn't want _you_ to get involved."

"I know" I really did "But- "

"No" he cut off "I don't mind spending time with you, but I do mind it if it involves something dangerous like this. I _do not_ want you involved in this part of my life. Am I making myself clear?"

"…"

"Takanishi!"

"…yeah" I said, looking at my feet. I just hope I won't end up breaking that promise any time soon.

XXXXX

We got out successfully and without much difficulty. Mrs. Mitarai did stop us, but I was able to convince her just like Mitarai had predicted. I suppose I was of some use, then. I walked with him to a nearby park where Botan was impatiently waiting.

"Finally!" she said, taking Mitarai by the arm "Let's go before the demon leaves the range of the radar."

Now there was a sentence I never thought I'd hear.

"Yeah, let's" Mitarai said, but before he started walking he turned to me "Thanks, Takanishi. Really. You can go home now."

"Nope" I said immediately, having already decided this as we left his house.

"…Excuse me?" he asked, his eyes widening a fraction "We already talked about- "

"I'm not going to get in your way" I said, sitting on a bench "I will be waiting for you _right here_. If I don't go back with you your mother will get suspicious, right?"

"…" hah, I won. He knew I was right.

"Well, that's true, but…" Mitarai trailed off. He seemed pretty tired… never thought I'd say this, but _hopefully_ he was tired of _me_ and not physically exhausted. The latter would put him in danger after all.

"Fine" he said "But you _better_ stay here. _Do not_ follow us." he said sternly, giving his best "I'm not messing around" -look. It was pretty convincing.

"I know" I said "No worries; I'll stay right here."

Or well, if he takes too long I might go get a drink from a nearby vending machine.

"Now that that's settled, let's _go_ " Botan said. Geez, talk about impatient "Before the target gets away!"

"Right" Mitarai said. As they walked off I really wished they'd both be okay.

 **A.N: …Yeah, still no action, but that's not even marked as a genre of this story so… well, there should be some in a few chapters. Maybe. I have an idea of how this story goes and have all the main points planned out, but I'm still working on the details. I know there will be fights, but aside from why a fight breaks out, who the opponent is and how the fight will end I usually plan the fighting scenes while I write them. Anyway, what do you think of the story so far?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

It's been half an hour, and Mitarai and Botan aren't back yet. Well, of course not. They had to first find the demon, hopefully just one, defeat it and get back here. Since they let me stay here in this park so easily it probably wasn't _that_ close; just moving the distance would take them some time. And since they probably fought somewhere that was away from prying eyes, they couldn't be too close… not that that was necessarily the case, but I'd assume so since if they didn't there would have to be more sightings about demons… right?

Even so, I wished they'd be back soon. Waiting without knowing anything made me nervous… is this how women felt in the forties when their husbands, sons, brothers and fathers went off to war?

…Whoa now; I'm being way too pessimistic here. He didn't go in to war; he went to a one on one fight. Or at least hopefully it'll just be one on one. Either way, it was not comparable to war.

And yet he could very well lose his life out there.

I bent over, hiding my face in my hands. Had this been a terrible mistake? Should I have done my all to stop him? Should I have followed him after all? Maybe if I had, I could've helped him somehow. I mean I did so last time, so maybe I could do it again. Even if it had just been luck, who says I couldn't do it again?

…Ugh, I needed to stop. No use crying over something that has already happened. Instead, I should use this time to think about things, like what will I do if a situation like this comes around a second time. Should I follow him if a next time ever comes? Or should I stop him from going in the first place? I had to make a decision, for Mitarai's sake and for my own peace of mind.

XXXXX

I went in to the bathroom, and in the few minutes I had been gone Mitarai and Botan had returned. The former looked exhausted but aside from that, he seemed fine. At the very least, both of them were definitely alive.

"There you are!" Botan called out as she noticed me "We thought you went home already."

" _She_ thought" Mitarai corrected, making me snort. He knew me so well; obviously I wouldn't just walk away without saying anything.

"Are you okay?" I asked, eyeing him. Now that I was closer I could see how dirty his clothes were and the fact that they had little rips here and there "Tough fight?"

"I've had it worse, actually" he answered casually. I could've gone without that information for the time being; he didn't look too good "But it certainly wasn't a piece of cake."

"But you did it, so I can take you home now" I said, glaring at Botan " _Right?_ "

Botan swallowed, I'm sure she did.

"Right" she said nervously, looking like her fight or flight instinct would take over any moment now. If it did, I could bet all my money to it being flight "I'll take care of the rest. See you later Mitarai!"

"Yeah, see you" he said back "Don't over work yourself."

"I won't" Botan said before taking off. I gave Mitarai a deadpan look; if someone here was overworking themselves it was him! Unfortunately, he decided to flat out ignore my opinion on the subject it seemed. He watched after Botan's retreating back before stating: "You scare her."

"I noticed" I said "How come? I mean she hunts demons for a living; isn't it as illogical as it can be for her to be afraid of a human girl?"

"Well technically her job is to guide the one who hunts down the demons, not to fight them herself" Mitarai corrected me "But well… I don't know to be honest; Botan usually gets along with everyone. You sure you didn't do anything to offend her last time you met?"

Excuse me? Was he blaming me of something? That felt a little offending… but it did get me thinking; _did_ I do something?

"Nothing that I can remember" is what I settled on "Unless she's afraid because I'm so strong."

Mitarai snorted before starting to laugh bluntly. My eyebrow twitched, asking despite feeling that I already knew the answer: "What's so funny?"

He kept laughing, but after a while managed to say: "Well, you are clearly stronger than _average human_ , but compared to the people Botan usually hangs out with, humans and demons alike, you have the powers, not to mention _control_ of a new born."

My eyebrow twitched again; I knew he'd say something like this. However, normally his jabs were far subtler. Either he was really tired right now or he really thought of it as _that_ funny. I kinda hoped it was the former…

As I was thinking about a snappy comeback, I finally registered the other important thing he had just mentioned. Botan hang out with demons? As I voiced my confusion to Mitarai, he finally got himself under control before explaining: "It's not like we kill or capture all the demons we encounter, just the ones that break the rules. There are good demons too, some of them are our friends even… or at least hers."

That was surprising; I had thought his job was just to take down as many demons as he could. I suppose it wasn't as simple as that, then. I got even more questions now, but I think I'll start with the one that should be the easiest to answer.

"What do you mean by "at least hers?"" Mitarai looked away, his smile fading a little. Ah shit; maybe it was the hardest question after all. That was the face he usually made when I was being insensitive.

"Sorry"

"It's alright" he said immediately "It's just that… I don't really know where I stand with those guys. We get along and sometimes even work together but other than that, we don't really see each other or talk to each other, so…"

"So, they're more like business partners than friends to you?" I asked, adding quickly: "Do they work for that Koenma, too?"

"They used to, but now they no longer do it officially. It's more like they are doing him favors, mostly when he runs in to trouble that his underlings can't handle or if the trouble is in the demon world." he told me, standing up from the bench he had been sitting on "In any case, why don't we continue this conversation later? I think it's about time for me to go home."

I agreed and we started walking. His house wasn't far and when it came to sight so did his mother, waiting for us at the front door. Good thing I had come up with an excuse why we took so long while I waited and another one for his poor state on our way back.

"Not good" Mitarai muttered. I chuckled, whispering to him: "No worries. I'm your alibi, remember? I know exactly what to say."

"Took you two long enough" Mrs. Mitarai said, crossing her arms as we reached the door "I take it you two have a good explanation for this?"

"I'm so sorry; the fault is mine" I said, trying to sound sincere. I know my excuse is good; now the only problem is if I can say everything in a way that is convincing enough. I must act, but not overdo it "We ran into some old friends and after we had talked for a while they suggested we go to karaoke. I knew Kiyoshi was still in bad shape, but since he wanted to go I figured he was well enough. I know I should've insisted for us to go back."

Yes, I just pretty much threw my friend under the buss and yes, I did it on purpose. I was certainly going to hear about this when his mom wasn't around, but he had it coming. Serves him right for making me worry.

Mrs. Mitarai stared at us for a while before sighing.

"You need to take care of yourself better…" I smiled. Victory! "Now why are your clothes so dirty?"

He addressed the question directly to Mitarai. Well shoot, of course she did. I had prepared an excuse, but hadn't taken the obvious fact that she'd ask it from him, so I hadn't said anything. Stupid stupid stupid! But surely, he could come up with an excuse on his own… I mean c'mon, he did this kind of things frequently, right?

"I fell down" he said "There was a bit of a slope, so…" he trailed off. Oddly enough, that was the same excuse I had been prepared to give. Maybe we think alike sometimes after all.

"You need to be more careful" Mrs. Mitarai chided "Not only are you pushing back your recovery, you're also causing Yuri unnecessary trouble."

Was it wrong of me to enjoy seeing him getting scolded? For once I wasn't the one doing it so I thought I could take all I can out of it.

"It was no problem at all; after all it was me who suggested we take a little walk." just be modest and belittle myself; that'll make her feel even more sympathetic towards me.

"I suppose you are simply too used to looking after my son" she said with a sigh, rubbing her temples. I could see Mitarai giving her a are you kidding me -look and on the inside, I couldn't help but agree with him; after all, in reality he was the one always looking after me! But I didn't let it show on my face; Mrs. Mitarai didn't need to know that and besides, my friend really needed a lesson.

"Mom- "

"Not another word young man!" she interrupted him "Now go to your room; I'll deal with you later after I've sent Yuri home!"

Hah, score! That'll teach him! I know he's going to be angry at me for this for a while but whatever; it was worth it. And so was the face he was making; but it didn't seem like he wanted to get in to an argument with his mother, so he gave in by simply saying: "Yes mom."

I watched him go inside before turning to his mom fully.

"Well it was nice to see you Mrs. Mitarai. Once again, sorry about the trouble. I'll be on my way now before my mother gets worried" I bowed to her and turned around to leave but stopped cold in my tracks as I felt a hand on my shoulder "Hold it right there, young lady."

Uuh, okay what? Had she seen through our act? It wouldn't really be that impossible but if that was the case how come she didn't call us out on it when Mitarai was still here?

"Is something wrong?" I asked, turning around. I _tried_ to keep my tone as innocent as possible as well as my face, but I think she saw my nervousness since she frowned when I turned around. Not good, I suppose.

"Tell me what _really_ happened to my son" she demanded and I froze. She really had seen through the lie… or had she? Should I play dumb, in case it was just a hunch? "And don't pretend you don't know what I mean."

…Was she a psychic too? It felt like she had read my mind! Or maybe she just read my face… either way, this was not good. What should I say? The look in her eyes was determined; there was no way I would get away with a half assed lie. I had to go with half-truth, then.

"He said he had a job to do and asked me to help him sneak out" I told, averting her accusing eyes "I refused at first, but when he said he was going to do it with or without my help, I gave in in the end."

"Were you worried he'd get hurt climbing out the window?" my head shot up, eyes wide as I stared at her. How did she know? She snorted, apparently at my face, before she said: "Does that boy really think I don't notice when he sneaks out at night? When he puts a note "Don't disturb. Studying." on his door and actually has gotten out from the window? He should give me more credit."

"So… you knew all along?" I asked, disbelieving. I knew she cared deeply for her son, so if she knew why didn't she try to stop us? Why didn't she stop him from doing all this in the first place? Sure, she didn't know all of it and how dangerous it all was, but the injuries Mitarai had from time to time should be enough to get her worried sick, right?

She smiled. A small, sad smile.

"Of course, I did; I know my son" she told me, even though she probably had no true idea of Mitarai's double life. In a way it made me happy that I wasn't the only one who thought was close to him yet didn't really know him "Now, what happened? What exactly did you two do?"

"I don't know what he did; I was waiting at a park" I said, deciding to go with the truth and only to leave out the supernatural stuff "He told me to wait because it might get dangerous."

She held my gaze, clearly trying to decide if I was telling her the truth or not. Hopefully she wouldn't catch on that while it was the truth, it wasn't everything. I wouldn't be able to come up with a workable emergency lie in this situation.

"Are you telling the truth?" she finally asked. I answered with a firm "yes", hoping that it was firm enough. Our staring contest continued and I had to use all my willpower not to look away; that was a sign of hiding something after all, wasn't it?

"All right then" she finally said after what felt like forever. Sighing, she asked: "Hopefully my son didn't get you in any trouble."

"No, not at all" I answered. Well, expect with her, but she didn't need to know that.

"Thank you for looking after him again" she said. The next part was probably not meant for my ears, but I heard it regardless: "One day that boy will kill me with stress and worry…"

I bit my lip, again struggling with if I should ask or not. Last time I had been able to keep my mouth shut, but not this time. Today, my curiosity and most of all, my _need_ to _know_ overwhelmed me. The words came out before I could stop myself: "If you're so worried then why don't you stop him from working?"

For once, it was her who froze. The she closed her eyes, covering them with her palm.

"Do you think I haven't tried that?" she asked with quiet, barely audible voice. It was shaky. I knew it'd be wrong to press her, but since I already started I figured I should see this to the end. I wouldn't back out until I got my answer.

"Then why not try harder?" I pressed. She shook her head, balling her hand in to fist repeatedly "I can't."

I raised an eyebrow, not that she could see that. Would she continue on her own or should I keep pressing?

"If I try to stop him by force, he'll find a way to go anyway most of the time. And I can't keep an eye on him all the time; at one point, I thought he had stopped, but it turned out he was just doing it in secret." she took deep, shaky breaths. I didn't rush her, feeling like she'd tell me everything if I just waited "And part of me doesn't even want him to stop."

I waited, but she didn't continue after that, so I asked: "Why?"

"Because it's good for him" she said, finally removing her hand from her face. Her eyes were buffy "My son had some… problems. After those were solved, he went on with his life happier than ever for a few months, or so it seemed. Suddenly he just became… depressed."

She shook her head. I was starting to regret this; was it really alright for me to hear all this? Especially since I heard it from his mom, not Mitarai himself?

"He kept doing his best, that was easy to see, but he was just… withering away. I wanted to suggest therapy, but had no courage to do so. Last time I did so, it didn't end well" that was probably during those problems of his "But one day, he came home and something was different. When I asked him, he said he'd gotten a job. From a ramen stand, he said. I noticed fast that the job made him happy, and I was relieved. Until…"

"Until you found out the truth" I finished since she seemed unable to continue. She nodded, rubbing her eyes with her fingers "I tried to stop him, but I failed time and time again. And it made him more distant from me, so in the end, I decided it was better to stop. I didn't want him to be unhappy or to hate me."

She looked at me, asking: "Am I being selfish?"

Yeah, in a way she was. She allowed her son to put himself in danger so that he wouldn't carry a grudge against her. But then again if Mitarai was miserable without his job, which is understandable when more or less knowing what's at stake, maybe it's best for him. Or maybe not.

"I don't know" I confessed "But well… as long as you do what you can for him, I suppose you don't have to feel guilty."

I was the selfish one here; I was just trying to convince myself that what I was doing right now wasn't wrong. That the more I knew, the more I could help him while in reality I was just trying to satisfy my own curiosity.

I was horrible.

"Maybe so" she said "I'm sorry for bothering you with all this; in the end, you're still a child yourself."

True, but I had already had my fair share of trouble in my life. A bit more wouldn't kill me, especially when it was for the sake of my friend. I just hope he won't get too angry if he ever finds out what I know… not that his mom told me much details.

"Don't worry about it" I assured her, adding as an afterthought: "Your son has helped me a lot; I'll be glad if I can finally help him with something, too."

It was true, and I'm not just talking about the fact that he saved my life. He was the one who helped me to pull myself together, he was the reason I am who I am.

…A real pain in the ass for him, that is. Well, he has only himself to blame for that… sort of.

"I'm sure you've already done plenty" Mrs. Mitarai said and while I disagreed, I didn't argue. There would be no point "I won't hold you any longer; go home before your mother gets worried."

Thanking her for the evening, I did just that. I just hope that curiosity won't kill the cat this time, that all this information won't bring me trouble.

But of course, with my luck, that probably won't be the case.

 **A.N: Mitarai's mom seems to have a bigger role than I originally planned… do you think she needs a first name? Yuri can just call her "Mrs. Mitarai" or "Mitarai's mom", but if someone else than her or Mitarai talks to the woman… well, I'll worry about that when/if I have to.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

I didn't see Mitarai again until Monday when he came back to school. I could've visited him of course, but after the talk with his mom I felt uncomfortable about facing him. I felt like I had done something wrong, _very wrong_ , having heard those things from his mother and not him. He didn't know any of it unless his mother had told him of course, but that didn't ease my quilt.

"You just had to feed me to the wolf" was the first thing the blond said as I sat down across from him at the cafeteria. I snorted; _that_ was something I didn't regret. He had that scolding coming.

"Surely you can handle one _wolf_ considering what you do?" I was of course referring to demon hunting. He rolled his eyes, saying: "That doesn't mean it's alright for you to get me in trouble to save your own skin."

"Maybe not, but what're you gonna do about it?" I asked. At his deadpan look, I added: "Oh come on, you had to know I'd do something like that."

His eyebrow twitched. For a moment, I thought he really was angry, but then he smirked and said: "You're right, it was my mistake. Pardon my accusations and get ready for revenge."

Challenge accepted.

"Oh? And what exactly would that be?" I asked, but he just said: "You'll see."

XXXXX

I was on my toes for the rest of the day, just to be sure. Mitarai was a clever bastard when he wanted to be and knew how to hold a grudge; he wouldn't just drop things before getting his revenge, whatever it may be, even if it took a while. Actually, I kind of hoped he'd try something soon so that I wouldn't have to be wary of his pranks 24/7. Or well, not 24/7, I was safe at ho-

…I spoke too soon. As I got home, Mitarai was there in the kitchen, talking with my mother. He smirked when I noticed him, which immediately got me on guard. He was about to make his move, and he was pulling my mom in to this, too. Well, I suppose that made sense considering what I did to him.

"I'm home" I said sourly, making mom notice me, too.

"So, the slowpoke has finally arrived. Kiyoshi has been here for over ten minutes already, you know." she replied me. That was too much for my liking; who knows what he's told her during that time.

"Has he now?" I asked, sitting at the table with them "What have you two been talking about, then?"

I swear to God, if he's told my mom some fake rumors then-

"He was telling about the day you got him stuck in that cellar with you" she said. Okay, whatever he had come up with, it couldn't be that bad. I had already told my mom the lie of me being at fault, so that wasn't it. How exactly was he planning on embarrassing me, I wonder.

"Really?" I said, glancing at Mitarai's smirking face "I take it he told you about that one embarrassing incident, then?"

My mom frowned, which I did not expect. Was she upset that I was so straight forward with hinting that Mitarai was trying to embarrass me on purpose or something?

"What embarrassing incident, honey?"

Wait, what? I looked at Mitarai again, seeing him smirking more openly now. Shit, I walked straight in to his trap. There was no incident, but if I tried denying it now she wouldn't believe me. Way to act like nothing he could come up with could get to me…

"It was nothi-"

"Well, Yuri didn't want anyone to know, but…" Mitarai trailed off on purpose, acting like he hesitated to share my secrets while he really wanted to get mom interested in what he was about to say.

"Don't believe anything he- "

"Shush Honey, I know you'll try to deny anything Kiyoshi says but don't bother, I won't be falling for it" turning to Mitarai, she said: "Please continue."

God damn it, the blond got me between rock and a hard place! The more I denied what he said, the more mom would be convinced that he was telling the truth and if I didn't say anything she'd just think I was too embarrassed to. Fine, you demon hunting blondie, you won this time. I'll just shut up and listen to whatever story you've come up with.

"Well, after we got stuck in there, we started to go through some old boxes- oh, of course with Shizuru's permission, we were all pretty bored after all. They were mostly full of her and her brother's old childhood clothes, books and toys." okay, harmless so far "One toy in particular seemed to hold Yuri's attention, though."

Is this the best he can come up with?

"It was a little, white pony plushie with wings" he said and I froze. I stared at him, and our eyes met. He grinned. How does he-

"Like the one she had as a child?" my mom interrupted "From the cartoon "My Little Pony?" She carried it with her everywhere as a child and held tea parties for it, drew pictures of it, even made me sew clothes for it- "

"Mom!" I yelled at her. How had Mitarai even known about my little obsession from when I was a child!? …Wait, obviously mom told him. I was going to have a serious talk with her after Mitarai left!

"Yeah, that one" he confirmed. They were both ignoring me it seemed "When she saw it, she looked like she was about to cry. She even told us this very detailed story about how she once went to the beach with it and then was extremely embarrassed when she realized exactly what she was telling us."

"That does sound like her" hello, I was right here! "Was it about the time in Enoshima when she was seven? Or that one time we went all the way to Okinawa? Those are definitely my best beach memories!"

Well done mom; it's not like Mitarai actually knew about any beach story, he just figured out that there must be one since _you_ told him I took it with me everywhere.

"The Enoshima one" Mitarai replied. He was maintaining a kind face, but his mischief was so heavy in the air it was a miracle mom didn't notice it… or then she just decided to ignore it "But I would _love_ to hear the story from Okinawa as well."

Oh no you don't!

"But he'll listen to it some other time; we have studying to do!" I shouted as I jumped up, pulling Mitarai off his chair as well "Do not disturb us!"

"Now now Honey, it wasn't that embarra- "

"I don't care!" I interrupted my mom, dragging my very amused friend turned enemy with me out of the kitchen and up the stairs in to my room. That son of a-

"I see you still like My Little Pony" Mitarai commented. I turned around, about to ask what he meant only to find him staring at the poster on my wall I had used to hide the dent. Shit, I forgot to replace it! "It's just a cover up!"

"Cover up?" he repeated with a raised eyebrow, clearly not believing me. I went over to him, taking the poster off the wall and showing him the dent. His eyes widened in surprise before he asked: "How did that happen?"

"…Practice" I muttered. I could see the lecture coming without even looking at him.

"Takanishi, you need to be- "

"More careful, I know" I interrupted "But to my defense, the dent is quite few weeks old already; I hadn't really understood the whole spirit energy -thing yet back then!"

Mitarai raised an eyebrow. Glancing at the poster still in my hands, he asked: "If it's been that long how come you haven't replaced the poster with something else already?"

…That was a good question.

"Could it be that you're _still_ obsessed with My Little Pony?" he asked with a grin. I glared at him, rolling up the poster and hitting him on the head with it. Or well, I tried to hit him. The bastard dodged.

"Careful, I'm still recovering you know" he said, tucking his hands in his pockets. I rolled my eyes, saying: "If you're in a good enough shape to fight demons you have no right to complain even if I came at you with my full strength."

"You mean that wasn't it?" he asked. Of course, I knew he was just annoying me, but my pride made me take the bait anyway. I raised my fist, saying: "Watch it or you _will_ see what I can do."

His eyes widened and he took a step back, making me pause. There was no way I was _that_ intimidating; what was going on?

"Easy Takanishi, no need for that for something like this." he said as he held his hand up in front of him. Need for what actually? It's not like we haven't threatened each other like this before. Mitarai seemed to notice my confusion as he continued: "Takanishi, your fist."

I looked down, seeing my hand glowing, coated in spirit energy. Oops, problems with my anger management. I really need to work on that.

"Sorry about that" I said, glaring at my fist until the glow started to dim, soon disappearing completely "I don't really have this thing under control yet."

"I noticed" Mitarai said, lowering his hands "While it's good you didn't do that on purpose, anger bringing it out is a serious problem if it happens in public. Make sure you work on that."

"Yeah, I know" I said, sighing "I'll get it under control soon enough. Promise."

It could be easier if he'd help me, but with everything he had going on, I couldn't add weight to his load.

"Okay" he said. Smirking again, he asked: "So, My Little Pony? _Really?_ "

I cast him a glare; this was going to be a _long_ day.

XXXXX

The next day on my way home from school I got this eerie feeling, like someone was following me, but no matter how many times I suddenly turned around, I didn't see anyone suspicious. I wrote it off as being paranoid, but now I realize I shouldn't have.

Now, it was Wednesday. Today, I had gotten the same eerie feeling. And now, I was face to face with this weird creature, most likely a demon, in an almost deserted park near my home.

Maybe I really was a trouble magnet.

"Well well well, what is a little human woman doing out alone so late at night?" the assumed demon asked. It was indeed late; why did I have to stop by the library today? I would've been home for hours by now if I hadn't.

"I was just on my way home" I said, trying to sound polite. No need to annoy something bigger and probably lot stronger than me if I could avoid it "So if you would excuse me, I'll be going now."

I tried to walk past the thing, but it grabbed my arm with its own large green one. I looked up at it's equally green face that was holding a large grin, wondering how in the world this thing had been able to move around without causing a commotion. It did look human enough minus the long nails and skin color, but those should have been enough to draw some attention. I tried to tuck my arm away, but it didn't let go… what now?

"It's not safe to walk alone for the likes of you~" the thing said in a creepy, singsong voice. Okay, it was important not to panic. I would try the polite approach one more time and if that didn't work, I would fight. Or put up just enough of a fight to get an opening to run to be exact.

"And that is exactly why I should be going home right now, so would you mind letting go?" I asked again despite being pretty sure about the answer.

"Now now, I was thinking we could have a dinner together" he said, the grin never leaving his face. To think that I was actually _hoping_ him to mean that I would be the dinner instead of just company was disturbing. I smiled, starting to concentrate my energy and anger on my right hand. Thank god, he had a hold on the left one.

"Thank you for the offer" I said. Swinging my now glowing fist, I yelled: "But no thanks!"

I managed to hit him straight on the arm that had a hold of me. He let out a yell, perhaps more out of surprise than pain, and let go. I didn't want to stick around to find out which the reason was, so I turned around and ran.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

I kept running but, not so surprisingly, I didn't get very far. After about ten to twenty meters the thing caught up, pushing me to the ground. It had definitely let go because of shock earlier; it hadn't been harmed by my attack.

"I don't like violent humans" the thing said as it pressed my face to the ground "I like humans that tremble in terror and beg for mercy!"

Hard to beg when one's mouth is full of dirt… but my pride would've probably stopped me from doing so anyway even if I could have. I tried to get up, but the thing had a strong hold on my head. I could move my arms and legs, but from this position I wouldn't be able to attack it. In short, I was in really big trouble here.

"Time for dinner" the thing said as it lifted me up by my hair. I gritted my teeth, doing my best to ignore the pain since this was probably going to be my only chance to escape. My hands wouldn't reach anything except his arm, but I should be able to kick him. Deciding to try that, I jumped forward and slammed both of my legs in to its gut. Unfortunately, it didn't work. The demon didn't even let go.

"Don't think I'll fall for a weak surprise attack like that a second time" the demon said. I reached for its hand in my hair, trying to get it to let go, but it was no use. I must not panic; it won't help anything. But what would? As far as I know I've ran out of options. Is this it for me? Am I going to die now? Wait, the dead end up in Spirit World, right? Does that mean I'll get a final nagging from that Koenma guy before I go to hell or heaven or something?

…Why the fuck am I thinking like someone who has given up in the first place? There has to be something you can still do! Think!

"Say, do you demons eat humans raw?" okay, what did I just ask? I should've thought before opening my mouth! But since the demon paused, looking confused, I suppose I could go with this topic. Maybe it'd buy me some time to figure out a way to escape. Or maybe more people would show up and call police or something? This was a public park after all. Even if the police couldn't do anything, a commotion could bring me a chance to escape.

"What?" the demon asked. It was clearly confused… I hope no one ever taught it to not to talk with food.

"I mean, do you eat raw meat or do you cook humans somehow?" I asked. This was turning in to a conversation I never thought I'd have "Like boiling? Frying?"

"Cook?" the demon repeated. Did it not understand the word or was it simply confused that I brought the subject up? I honestly couldn't tell, especially since the pain on my scalp was very distracting. I looked at the demon's face; it seemed to be thinking about what I said… it seems I've been able to buy a little time for myself. Now the question is what to do with that time. "Why would I cook a human?"

"Well cooked meat tends to taste better" I said. This topic was weird as hell "Right?"

As the demon thought things over I wondered if I could somehow cut my hair; if I could then it wouldn't need to let go, I would just fall on the ground. The problem was that I didn't have anything sharp at hand. My schoolbag might've had something but I no longer had it, must've dropped it at some point. Even if I did have it the demon would probably notice if I started going through it.

"Humans taste good enough without being cooked" was the conclusion the demon came to. Damn "Especially the young ones!"

It was opening its mouth wide and my eyes widened as I thought it was going to eat me here and now. Would the first bite kill me? Or would it start by eating my limbs first, leaving me alive for the time being but heavily bleeding? How bad was the pain of a missing limb? If it did start with my limbs would I just pass out from pain? Or would-

I didn't get to finish my thought as the thing suddenly screamed in pain, dropping me to the ground in the process. The fall didn't really hurt, or maybe the pain in my scalp was too much for me to register it. Rubbing my head, I looked up to see what had happened to the demon. I kind of wished I hadn't; behind it was… something. It was about the demon's size and I could see right through it, but not enough to question if it was actually there or not. It definitely was. It had a human like shape, but it lacked detail… come to think of it, it looks a little familiar. Have I seen it somewhere before?

The demon looked mad at it. It swung its clawed hands at the other thing, trying to get rid of it I suppose. The thing dodged, which is when I noticed that I was still way too close to them. The demon's claws will hit _me_ soon if I don't dodge, but I was paralyzed. C'mon Yuri, not the right time to be scared stiff. Move!

Despite knowing what I had to do, I just couldn't bring myself to move a muscle. I prepared myself for a severe injury, possibly even death, by the thing's claws, but just when they were supposed to hit me I felt something wrap around me, pushing me further away. I heard a scream and it brought me back to earth; I could move again, like I had recovered from a trance or something. I looked down, seeing a green hoodie with a big, bloody slash on the backside. That's when it hit me; I knew where I had seen the watery thing and why it looked familiar.

"Mitarai" I shook the bloody blond who had, once again, saved my life. And this time he had gotten himself in trouble too while he was at it.

"Ugh…" well, he was alive at least "You okay, Takanishi?"

Is he kidding me? He's asking that from _me_ at a time like this?

"More than you are, stupid!" I said. I stood up, trying to pull him to his feet with me "C'mon, we need to get out of here!"

"Not yet" he said, now kneeling on the ground "I need to take that guy down first."

What? I get it that it's his job, but he's in really bad shape! Surely his boss will understand that he couldn't stay and fight!

"But your wound- "

"Isn't as bad as it looks" Mitarai dismissed my concern "Just stay behind me and let me handle this."

I grit my teeth in frustration and worry. Would I be strong enough to drag him away from here against his will? He was wounded so it should be easier than it normally would, but what if I ended up hurting him even more in the process? That too was highly likely. What now? Isn't there anything I can do to help? I know I can't join the fight; I would just be in Mitarai's water monster's way!

"Takanishi, I have this under control" he said suddenly. He wasn't looking at me; he was starting at the demon and that thing he created. Maybe he needed to focus on it to control it? "So, don't worry. If you want to help, the best way to do so is to stay out of my way."

He was right, that much I knew. Even so, it was very frustrating to know that I was completely useless, that there was nothing I could do for him.

…No, there _is_ something I can do.

I let go of Mitarai's arm and took off my blouse. To think that I just _had to_ choose the light crème colored one today; the stains would never come off!

…Ugh, no time for that!

I took the blouse, pressing it to Mitarai's back.

"Takanishi?" he questioned me, so I snapped at him: "Just focus on your fight!"

I'm not sure how bad the wound was, but it was still bleeding so I suppose it meant it was somewhat deep and thus dangerous? Even if it turns out to be relatively harmless like he seems to think, it's still better to be safe than sorry.

I looked up, following the two inhuman beings with my eyes as much as I could. They were fast, but not so fast that I couldn't follow their movements, as incredible as they were. Both kept dashing at each other with punches and kicks, sometimes hitting, sometimes missing. At times the hits were blocked, too. It was beyond my understanding how Mitarai could control something so big, not to mention so fast. He must have had a lot of practice.

The demon let out a loud roar of anger, making me wonder how many people heard it. Actually, despite the park being rather empty at this time of the night, people should hear the fighting, too. How come no one had come to see what was going on? People here were usually a nosy punch; there was no way no one was interested. They must be too worried of their own safety to come to see what's going on. That's actually smart of them.

The demon seemed to start to get in to a bad shape. It's not like it hadn't gotten hits in as well, but Mitarai's water monster kept fixing the damage about as soon as it appeared, something the demon didn't seem to be able to do. It was full of bruises and cuts, bleeding purple, slime like blood. It was gross, but I'd consider us lucky that it was losing.

"You cursed human! You'll pay for this!" the demon yelled. It was very loud, but now that it was clearly losing it didn't seem so intimidating anymore. I watched it clumsily dodge yet another punch and trying to land one of its own, failing miserably. Getting hit on the head by a huge water fist, it fell down to the ground. Yet this time, even after a while, it didn't get up. Was it dead? I honestly didn't know how I should think or feel about that. If it was, I was kind of glad; it wouldn't be able to hurt us anymore. But if it was then that meant that my friend had just killed a living, _talking_ being. Intelligent even despite its IQ seeming rather limited. Was it really _right_ to do so, even as self-defense?

"…Is it dead?" I ended up asking in the end. Come to think of it, is it even proper to use the word "it and not "he?"

Mitarai glanced at me and, for a brief moment, our eyes met. There was an odd look on his face; it wasn't one I had seen before. Not on him, at least.

"I don't think so; I was only aiming to knock him out cold" he answered. He started to stand up, but seemed to have some difficulties with it. Yet before I could really offer him any aid he managed to get on his feet "Wait here, I'll go check."

I wanted to protest. I was _about to_ protest, but stopped myself as I realized that what he was doing was definitely necessary; if the thing was still alive we'd need to restrain it so it wouldn't catch us by surprise once it woke up.

I watched Mitarai's retreating back. I wanted to help him, to be of some use at least, but I couldn't bring myself to follow him. Normally I wasn't such a wimp, but now my legs just wouldn't move. There was simply _something_ about that demon that unnerved, if not terrified, me. In a way, it might've been good; even if I did go I'd probably just end up getting in his way. At least like this I didn't add anything to his burden.

"He's still alive" Mitarai broke my line of thought "And definitely unconscious; thank god this one wasn't faking it."

Ah, right. I hadn't even considered the possibility that the demon might have just been waiting for a chance to strike instead of really being out of it. That's the difference between a pro and a normal person, I suppose.

…Or lack of common sense on my part. Hopefully not that.

A sudden loud splash caught my attention and I looked to the side, seeing Mitarai's water monster collapse. Was it on purpose or…?

I looked at Mitarai and saw him on his knees. Okay, not on purpose then. Bringing together all my will power, I managed to stand up. As much as I _didn't_ want to go near the demon, it was some kind of primary instinct I guess, I went over to Mitarai so I could confirm that he was okay. What would I do if he fainted again? If I needed to call an ambulance then how would I explain the huge wound, not to mention the passed-out demon?

"Are you okay?" I asked, coming to a halt next to him. Normally I would've gone to the ground to his level to help him up easier, but I preferred staying on my feet in case the demon woke up. Not that I could do much if it did, but my reaction speed should be faster, even if by just a bit, if I was already standing up.

"Yeah, just felt a little… dizzy for a second" he said, shrugging "It's just the exhaustion."

"And blood loss" I added. He turned to me, looking confused, so I clarified: "Your back."

He blinked, making me wonder if he had seriously forgotten. Was it good or bad if he couldn't even feel such a big wound? I've read from somewhere that if a person ends up under a lot of pain then at some point they´ll stop feeling it completely and that that was bad. But if that was the case here could he even move?

"Oh, right" he said "Now that you point it out, my back does feel kind of numb."

That's bad, isn't it?

"In any case, we should let Botan know that the demon is down" Mitarai said, pulling out his… weird peeper/communicator thing "She's out there posing as a police officer, keeping curious onlookers away."

"Isn't that illegal? She could get in to lot of trouble for it" I pointed out, but Mitarai just laughed "Even if she did she could easily bail herself out of it with Koenma's help. Posing as a police officer is nothing for someone who works for the spirit world."

I raised an eyebrow. Did that mean this wasn't the first time? Had _he_ perhaps done something similar before?

…Might be better not to ask. Not that I had a chance since right after saying that, Mitarai started coughing violently.

"What's wrong?" I asked, bending down as he was unable to answer from all the coughing. I started hitting his back, and after what felt like an eternity, probably just a minute or so in reality, he calmed down "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" he said "Probably just catching a cold or something."

I really hoped that was the case.

I watched as he activated his communicator, contacting Botan. I couldn't see her from the position I was in, but I could hear her clear as day.

"Evening! Done already, I presume?" her chipper voice asked.

"Yeah, and I left him alive like we agreed; now we'll have someone to question." Mitarai answered "Come over and get us a portal so we can move him, okay?"

"Okay dokay! I'll be right there!" she answered, saying nothing after that. I guess they were finished.

"So, you're going to interrogate the demon?" I asked. It sounded pretty bizarre; just how exactly would they make someone like that talk? And what did they want answers to anyway?

"Yeah, but I or Botan won't be the ones doing it" the blond said, wiping sweat from his forehead. He was sweating quite lot, actually "Koenma has other people to do that for hi- "

He didn't finish. I thought he was about to have a coughing fit again, so I was taken aback when he threw up blood instead.

Hopefully Koenma has some good doctors working for him, too.

 **A.N: Now we had** _ **some**_ **action here… Yuri's fights should be more detailed than this in the future since everything is seen from her POV.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

I wasn't mistaken; Mitarai was definitely coughing up blood. But why? The only injury I saw on him was the one on his back; it shouldn't make him cough up blood… right? Had he suffered some internal damage when he saved me? Or even before that? It's not like I knew what he had done prior to arriving here… what should I do now? All I knew was that if someone was coughing blood it needed to be made sure that they didn't choke on it, but what about after that?

"Should I run to get help? Or call an ambulance?" I asked. I didn't know how we'd explain the gash on his back to people, but that wasn't important right now, right? His safety came first "Mitarai?"

"N…no…" he managed to mumble before throwing up again. I frowned, watching as the red liquid kept pooling on the ground. His back was still bleeding, too. How much blood could be lost before it got dangerous? Should I go against his wishes and run to get help? But what if the demon woke up while I was gone or something else happened? Well, if it did then it wouldn't make much of a difference if I was here or not. With my mind made up, I told him: "Just hold on, I'll go get some help."

His hand snatched my wrist before I could even stand up. He looked at me, and the glazed look in his eyes just added to my worry "Mitarai, you _need_ help."

"Botan will… be here soon…" he rasped out, shaking his head. I could easily remove his hand, but perhaps it wouldn't be wise to leave him alone. Besides, he might be right; surely Botan would know what to do when she gets here. I mean with the kind of job she has she's bound to know at least basic first aid, hopefully even more. I just hope she'd get here soon.

I just stayed there, unmoving, not knowing what to do, watching as he threw up more and more blood. What if he passes out? It'd be even harder to take care of him then. What if-

"I'm he~re! I didn't take too long, did I?" Botan sang and I saw her running towards us, pausing as our eyes locked "Yuri? What are you doing here?"

"Coincidence" I told her, not bothering with the details "Never mind that, Mitarai's hurt badly. He needs help quickly!"

"Oh dear" she muttered, coming over. She bent down, put her hand on his forehead and frowned. That probably wasn't good; did he have a fever? Unable to do anything, I just watched as Botan inspected Mitarai's wound. Her face turned more worried the longer she looked at it, and I couldn't take it anymore "Is it that bad?"

"Huh? Oh, uh… it's bad, but I'm sure we can handle it back at the Spirit World!" Botan assured, but her words sounded empty. She was lying; she wasn't sure in the slightest. Perhaps she wasn't even sure of his survival.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked, hating how helpless and useless I'd been during the whole night.

"Umm…"

"Go home, Takanishi" Mitarai said. I was surprised he was still conscious, let alone that he could speak "Don't make your mom worry again."

Oh no, he can't play that card! Not when he's the one always making his own mother worry!

"But- "

"There's nothing else you can do now" he said with some difficulty "Just go, I'll be safe with Botan."

I wasn't too sure about that, but I suppose there was nothing I could do. In fact, I might just get in their way and make things worse if I insisted on staying.

"Okay, just… call if there's something I can help you with, okay?" I said. He managed to smile a little despite the pain he was obviously in "Yeah, of course. See you."

I turned away, picking up my bag and my now ruined blouse. I didn't look back after that, but somehow, I got the feeling that if I did, I wouldn't see them anyway. That they were already gone.

XXXXX

Mitarai didn't come to school the next day, not that I had expected him to; he got in to pretty bad shape after all. In fact, his condition might be even worse than I think; I don't know why he kept throwing up after all. What if it was really, really bad? As in, what if whatever it was caused some permanent damage? Or worse, what if he didn't survive?

I stopped walking, the thought hit me like a tidal wave; I hadn't even considered the possibility before, and now I have to wonder why; it was clear even to an amateur like me that the injuries were serious. I started to tremble so I grabbed my elbows, trying to at least stabilize my arms. Would look weird if someone were to pay any attention to me, but that was the least of my concerns right now. Taking a deep breath, I thought things over. I still had a few hours of school left. I wouldn't get in to too much trouble for skipping those said hours, but if I did what difference would it make? I don't think there was anything I could do to help Mitarai and if there was, it certainly wasn't something that couldn't wait for a few more hours. Even if I did go to his house now and he was there, whatever came out of that would be the same as what would happen if I went a few hours later. In fact, he'd probably realize that I skipped a lecture to get to him earlier and might get mad about that. Totally not worth it; I'd go see him after school.

Not that I could focus on anything with all this worrying.

XXXXX

After school, I didn't waste any time and ran directly to Mitarai's house. Hoping he was already home, I rang the doorbell. I heard footsteps and soon his mother opened the door. Her appearance was rather sloppy, which caught me off-guard; while she had never seemed too specific about her looks, she was always in a tiptop shape as a whole. Now, her clothes were wrinkled, her hair was up in a messy bun and she had bags under her eyes. I'm pretty sure she had some of yesterday's make up still on her face, too.

"Yuri? What is it?" she sounded tired too. Trying to seem carefree, I asked: "Is Kiyoshi home? He wasn't in school today, so…"

I trailed off. She didn't answer my question right away, which made me wonder if she realized that I wasn't as clueless as I wanted to seem. She was good at reading people, or at least me, after all.

"He's home, but not doing too well" she said. Was it just me or were her eyes narrowing a little "You wouldn't happen to know something about that, would you?"

So, she _did_ see right through me. Time for a quick decision; to lie or not to lie?

…

She'd just see through it if I did lie. Better go with truth, but be as vague as I can.

"I did hear he got in to some trouble last night" I admitted, truly hoping she'd let me leave it at that. I couldn't lie and there was no way I could tell her the truth… unless I told everything else but left out the fact about the attacker being a demon. I didn't want it to come to that though; I didn't want her to know that this was my fault. That was something that had sunk in during the last few hours of school and I didn't want to share that information; I felt guilty enough as it was.

"Don't let him get in to any more trouble" she said before letting me in. Did she think he actually _listened_ to me? In a way it was flattering, but I also felt sorry for having to let her down. I couldn't keep Mitarai out of trouble any more than she did.

The door to his room was slightly ajar, but I knocked on it anyway. Mitarai told me to come in and when I did I noticed him in his bed again, propping himself up with his elbows, his face paler than I had ever seen it.

"How are you doing?" I forced myself to ask despite knowing that if he said anything else than horrible he'd be lying.

"I've been worse. Not sure when or where, but I've had it worse" he said. He didn't look like he was lying, but I kind of hoped it was "As long as I stay in bedrest the ordered time I should recover completely."

 _Should_ recover completely? Doesn't that mean there's a chance he got some permanent damage? Gosh…

"I'm sorry; you got in to a fight with that demon because of me" I said "If there's anything I- "

"Don't" he interrupted me with surprising harshness. I averted my gaze, but then he continued: "It was _not_ your fault; I would've gone after that demon even if you weren't there. It's my job after all. If there's anyone to blame then it's me for taking more responsibility that I can handle."

So, he wasn't blaming me. Thinking with logic only, I too knew it wasn't my fault. Too bad that human mind didn't work like that most of the time; I still felt guilty. Really guilty, so I was determined to do _something_ for him.

"Still, if there's anything I can do for you, then just say so" I said adding: "You did save my life after all… again."

"Don't worry about it; I'll send you a bill soon" Mitarai replied. I looked at him again, raising an eyebrow. He just grinned at me, and then we both laughed.

"Well, on more serious note" Mitarai started after our laughter had died down "You could try _avoiding_ demons from now on."

"It's not like I was looking for trouble yesterday" I told him, pulling out a chair from under his desk "I did things the way I normally would, and suddenly that thing just was there."

"You mean it was just a coincidence that it targeted you?"

"Yes" I answered. What else could it b-?

"Not quite" I jumped at the sudden voice, turning my head towards it a bit too fast. What I saw took me by surprise; something blue, probably spirit energy, was spinning around in front of Mitarai's door and Koenma was coming out of that thing. No wonder the voice had been a bit familiar now that I think about it; it was his.

"Haven't I asked you not to come here like that without any warning?" Mitarai asked. He didn't seem too surprised, but if I knew him at all I'd say he was _very_ irritated with the Prince or whatever he was. That wasn't like the blond, so I suppose something must have happened between them "Is Botan coming too?"

"You bet!" came voice from the spiral the moment Koenma had fully stepped out of it. Not long after Botan was out too and the spiral, apparently some kind of Spirit World door or something, disappeared "Oh hey Yuri, didn't think you'd be here too."

Before I could say anything to that Mitarai voiced his thoughts: "Really? Cause I had a feeling you chose this moment to appear _because_ you knew she was here."

"Of course no- "

"Actually, we did" Koenma said, this time interrupting Botan. _That_ completely caught my attention; what did they want from _me_?

As if reading my mind, which at this point wouldn't be so surprising if it turned out he could do that, Koenma turned to me.

"You've attracted some unwanted attention lately, correct?" he asked. I nodded, but made it clear it was just this one time.

"Yet there will be more. As your spirit energy gets stronger, it will also get more noticeable and attract more demons." he told me. I glanced at Mitarai, who nodded. This wasn't exactly something I had been waiting or wanting to hear.

"Is there a way to make me seem _less_ interesting to demons?" I asked.

"With better control over your spirit energy you should be able to unconsciously mask it, at least more than you are now" Mitarai answered before Koenma could. I noticed that he had completely lied back down at some point. Was he that out of strength?

"That is true, and you could also learn to avoid them if you could tell their energy apart from humans" Koenma said. I raised an eyebrow, wondering how I could learn something like that. Again, as if reading my mind, he said: "I'm guessing you've already started to learn it without realizing it?"

"I… have?" I asked, confused. I don't think there had been any-

It hit me, and my eyes widened at the realization. The eerie feeling I'd had on Tuesday had been because the demon had already followed me back then, and for some reason I had been able to sense it, yet had not realized what it meant.

"So that… creepy feeling I get when I encounter demons is because I sense them? Does that happen to everyone?" I asked, glancing at Mitarai again. The feeling was anything but nice; if he got it every time he was at work he really had to tolerate a lot more than I originally thought.

"Well, yes and no" Koenma said. I wonder if he had been the one to teach Mitarai unclear answers "So far you've only faced relatively weak demons, ones that aren't good at camouflaging their energy. On top of that they've been bloodthirsty, meaning they're much easier to notice. Even someone with next to no spirit awareness can sense something is wrong if a nearby demon's urge to kill is a strong one."

This was getting pretty scary.

"However, the strong ones usually hide their presence as well as their blood lust. As you are now you probably wouldn't be able to tell someone like that apart from a human, probably not even if they were right next to you." Koenma said calmly like he was stating a fact. If I hadn't been nervous before then _that_ sure put me on the edge.

"…Is it possible for me to learn to recognize these demons that can mask themselves?" I asked. If I could recognize one I could also avoid it.

"With proper training, yes" Koenma said "To be honest, that brings us to the actual reason we're here now."

 _I_ was the reason they were here? Not Mitarai? Well, they had probably talked just yesterday with each other, but still… was he planning on giving me tips on how to learn faster? If that was the plan then I was definitely up for it.

But apparently, I wasn't as good at understanding yet unsaid plans as I thought I was.

"Takanishi Yuri, how would you feel about becoming a second spirit detective?"

 **A.N: How will Yuri answer!? …Well, if you've read the summary you probably know already.**

 **Anyway, the thing is that I have three other unfinished stories being published here along with this. The eldest has been here since 2010 and I last updated it in 2011, but now I've really,** _ **really**_ **decided to finish it. I will mainly concentrate on that one for now, at least until I have finished the current arc of that story, but I will still try to update this one once a month or so. Please be patient despite the fact that the chapters are so short. Until next time.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"WHAT!?"

It was Mitarai who yelled that, but the exact same question had been the first one on my mind, too, quickly followed by other, more complicated ones. Why did they want _me_ as a spirit detective? If they wanted a new one, did that mean Mitarai was quitting? Why? Were his injuries that bad? And of course, should I do it?

I wonder if my shock could be seen on my face the way I felt it on the inside. I looked at Koenma, but he looked like he was being completely serious. I could also see Botan as she was standing right next to him, and she too looked a bit shocked, but didn't say anything. Then I looked at Mitarai, who had propped himself up with his elbows again. Was that look on his face just one of shock or was there pain mixed in? It certainly looked like it, but was it physical pain or the fear of being replaced? Or both?

"Koenma, that is a really bad idea" Mitarai told him, and I kind of agreed "It is no job for a normal human!"

"Her spirit energy is powerful, so in a sense she isn't one" huh, should I be insulted? "At least not any more than you are."

"But I'm the Spirit Detective for a reason" the blond argued "You can't put a normal human in harm's way like this just because it happens to benefit you."

Judging by the look on Koenma's face Mitarai had hit a sore spot, but instead of finding out what that was I was more interested in this reason Mitarai claimed to have. What had gotten him to take on such a dangerous profession? I had wondered about this before too, but now I know that whatever it is, Botan and Koenma know. If they didn't they would've said something just now, wouldn't they?

"A capable Spirit Detective benefits the whole human world, not just me" Koenma finally said "And she wouldn't be in as much danger as you seem to think; I would only send her after the weaker demons, ones that she actually has a chance of winning. And of course, Botan would be assisting her."

"I would?" the blue haired woman asked. Koenma cast her a glare and she laughed nervously "I mean, of course I would!"

Koenma turned to me, asking: "Well, what do you think?"

"Umm…" what was I supposed to say? This came completely out of the blue; I had no idea what to say.

"Her answer is no" Mitarai said. Maybe it would be, maybe it wouldn't, but that sure irked me; it wasn't his decision to make. It was mine.

But what should I decide?

In a way, I wanted to do it. Being a spirit detective sounded important… no, I _knew_ it was important and the idea of becoming someone important was certainly tempting, but I wasn't stupid enough to think that it was riskless, especially after what I've seen. If I became the second spirit detective then I would undoubtedly get in danger. Big danger, and I might end up making my mom worry the same way Mitarai had made his.

But then again, if I didn't take on the role then someone else will have to, right? And since Koenma's asking _me_ then that must mean that the other options he still has left have to be very unexperienced and, well, _weak_. I mean even if I was above an average human like they said, they had also made it very clear that I would only be of use against weaker demons, so what would be the point of recruiting me? They clearly had no better candidates lined up. And from the little I've learned about Botan and Koenma by now I think it's safe to say that they will make Mitarai fight again before he has fully recovered if they don't find someone to replace him.

That was something I definitely didn't want.

Even so, I hesitated. No matter how much I care about Mitarai and his safety, my own safety and wellbeing weights a lot, too. I couldn't just outright go and sacrifice myself for his, or anyone's for that matter, sake. I don't think I'm a bad person, but I'm definitely not a saint.

"Takanishi?"

Mitarai probably thought I had spaced out, but I hadn't, not this time. I was paying attention for once despite thinking hard. However, I had no answer to give to them. At least not yet.

"Can I have some time to think this over?"

"Of course," Koenma said without missing a beat. I suppose he had been expecting me to answer like that "Just tell your answer to Mitarai by next Monday. If it is a yes then he'll contact us for you."

"I never agreed to such a thing" the blond denied. Koenma just looked at him, saying: "Would you prefer that we'd keep in contact with her through someone else? The others have their hands full as it is, but if you can't help- "

"Point taken" Mitarai said with a sigh.

"Good" Koenma said "And if she says yes then don't even _think_ about lying to me about her answer."

Judging from the glare Mitarai gave Koenma that was exactly what he had planned in case I said yes.

"Wouldn't think of it" he said instead, but I'm pretty sure we all knew that he was lying.

When Koenma and Botan had left, Mitarai turned to me, saying: "You have to turn down that offer."

Rationally thinking, I knew he was right. He knew how dangerous it was and didn't want me to get involved, so it's not like he was saying that for selfish reasons, even if small part of me wondered if he was worrying about being replaced. But I really, _really_ didn't like to be ordered around like this, no matter how right he was.

"It's not your decision to make" I reminded him, sitting down in his chair "But since you know the job better than me your reasons should be worth listening. So, go on, convince me why I _shouldn't_ take the job."

Who'd be a better person to tell me that it was a bad idea than the guy already on the job? The only downside was that he might try to scare me in to abandoning the idea by making it sound worse than it actually is, but I doubt he'd do that. After all, if he did then it'd make everything he's been doing until now sound unnecessarily dangerous, too.

"You've already seen how dangerous it is" Mitarai said, laying back down "Just look at me; I can't even lean on my elbows for long without tiring out, let alone sit up."

He had a very good, visible point right there.

"I should be able to do that much by tomorrow, but it'll take a while before the poison's effect is completely gone" poison? From that demon's claws? "And even after that my body will probably be weak for quite a while longer; it'll take a long time before I can return to my job, one month being the absolute minimum."

That was serious without a doubt, but wasn't that even more of a reason to find a new spirit detective?

"But that's all the more reason why they need someone to take your place, isn't it?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but would you really be ready for _this_?" Mitarai asked me "We can't tell for sure yet, but I might even have some permanent damage from yesterday, you know."

I froze. I had considered that earlier but forgot about it; I should've asked by now!

"How bad exactly are your injuries?" I asked despite already knowing that they had to be pretty bad since he couldn't even sit up properly "How high are the chances that there is some permanent damage?"

"Shouldn't be too high; I got help fast enough" he assured me "But poisons can be very unpredictable, so there's no way of knowing for sure until something _does_ go wrong."

I bit my lip, knowing what he was trying to say. Even if he seemed to be recovering there was a chance his condition would suddenly worsen. That and some trouble might show up later, even years from now... was it all really worth it? Worth of the job he had? Mitarai was a selfless person, at least if compared to me, so even if he could do it with no regrets, could I do the same?

"Do you ever regret becoming the spirit detective?" I asked him. He was silent for a moment, making me regret the fact that I couldn't see his face. If I did I could probably tell if he lied to me.

"…At times, I do" he finally said "But there are lot of things I regret and becoming the spirit detective definitely isn't on the top of that list."

I really wanted to ask what those things were, what could even be compared to his job, but didn't. At this point it was pretty easy to sense that this was one of those forbidden subjects.

"Have you ever considered quitting?" I asked, adding: "Are you even _allowed_ to decide to quit?"

"I… don't know, actually" he admitted, his voice unsure "I never considered quitting; it never even crossed my mind."

"Why not? I mean if you've regretted taking the job- "

"I don't know, it just didn't" he said "I guess I just felt too responsible over things after I started; despite the fact that most people don't even know that demons exist, it's a very important job."

That goes without saying after one has run in to demons themselves.

"Now that it's been brought up, would you consider quitting?" I asked, not being able to help myself "Don't you think you've done enough?"

"…" Mitarai didn't answer, not even after a while had passed. I have no idea what was going through his head… had he gone silent because I had a point? Because my question was stupid? Because it was none of my business what he did or didn't do?

"…There is one thing I know for sure about this job" he finally said. I had a feeling he was changing the subject, but decided not to comment on it. It was probably for the best not to push him, at least not now, so I just waited for him to continue "This is a very dangerous job and I would never wish for a friend of mine to take it."

That would be a lot more convincing if he quit the job, too, but I didn't say that. Apparently, he had his reasons not to quit, whatever they were. And they were reasons he didn't want me knowing. So, I just sat there without saying anything, waiting for him to continue, to try to convince me to not do it, but he said nothing. He didn't say anything at all for a long, long time. Getting tired of his silence, I walked over to him only to see him asleep. No wonder he hadn't said anything in a while.

Deciding not to bother him, he needed rest after all, I took my leave. I would have to come to a decision on my own, whatever it will be.

XXXXX

I thought of my options all the way home and even at night when I had already gone to bed. One side of me wanted to turn down the offer simply because of the danger the job would put me in, but another side… I'm not sure. I don't know why I haven't flat out refused already, what about the idea of being a spirit detective is so tempting. Certainly, if I took the job I would have a good chance to leave my mark on the world, at least a better chance than an average girl would, but is it worth risking my health and even my life? Do I care about the rest of the world enough to put myself in such a position?

…Definitely not; that's something I was sure of. If I do take the job, it will be because of selfish reasons. Now what will _I_ get out of it if I do it?

A chance to leave my name in history is one, but there's a chance I'll get done in by the job itself before I do anything remarkable. Also, if I did do something, ordinary people would never know. I mean surely the Spirit World keeps these things under tight wraps, right? The amount of people who'd know would be very limited.

This job would definitely help me to get stronger, too. I mean surely, I'd get better at using spirit energy if I used it frequently against demons, right? And if I took the job I might be able to convince Mitarai to teach me a thing or two… if he doesn't bite off my head first for agreeing to it.

There was also the fact about me attracting demons. If I had to deal with them anyway, wouldn't it be better that I went to them before they got to me? Element of surprise and all that.

I sighed; why did this have to be so complicated? Maybe I was just tired; I'll be able to think things through after some sleep for sure.

XXXXX

 _It was starting to get dark out, but it wasn't pitch black yet. That might've been better though; maybe I could've gotten the demon that was chasing me to lose sight of me that way. That damn thing was getting closer and closer; if I didn't lose it soon it'd catch me._

 _I turned a corner, tripping on an empty bottle. I got up, catching my breath while I was at it. Thankfully the thing didn't manage to catch up with me despite my blunder. As glad as I was about that, it was weird. It should've rounded the corner too by now. I knew I shouldn't do it, yet I cautiously peeked around the corner, wanting to know what had happened._

 _There I saw Mitarai in his green hoodie, facing the demon. I sighed in relief; I'd be safe now. Hopefully he would be, too._

 _I watched him use his powers, creating that water monster of his. It started fighting the huge demon, throwing punch after punch, but it didn't seem to do much good. The thing was losing and so was Mitarai along with it._

 _As the demon hit the water monster hard_ _,_ _it burst, raining as drops to the ground. After its original opponent was defeated, the demon turned its attention to Mitarai. The blonde dodged the first punch aimed at him, but not the second. Or third. He was like a ragdoll, getting completely thrown around by that cursed creature._

 _I wanted to help, I really did, but my legs wouldn't move. If that thing was strong enough to throw Mitarai around, what chance did_ I _have against it? None, that's what. I might be able to catch it by surprise for a second or two, but that'd be of no use; even if such a moment would normally give my friend time to escape, it certainly wouldn't anymore. He was in too bad shape by now; if I wanted to be of use I should've ran over the second his technique failed. I had hesitated for too long, and that cowardice was now rewarded with the complete maiming of my friend._

 _Where was Botan? Why wasn't Spirit World sending any back up? They knew there was a strong demon on the loose; if they didn't then Mitarai wouldn't have heard of it either and wouldn't be here!_

 _A scream cut through the air and all I could do was look at my friend as he coughed up blood. Deep down I knew that this wasn't Spirit World's fault; they didn't send anyone simply because they had no one to spare._

 _And that was because a certain coward had turned their request down._

 _If I had agreed to become a second spirit detective we might've been able to fight it together from the start and then maybe this wouldn't have happened. It was all my fault._

 _The demon threw Mitarai in to a wall and as the blonde looked up, our eyes met. We just stared at each other, neither of us moving a muscle. He had an odd look in his eyes, but I did not know what it meant._

 _Tearing my gaze from his, I saw the demon standing over him, raising its clawed arm. I looked back at Mitarai, but he didn't seem to notice the demon. Or maybe he just didn't care. He just stared at me, not even blinking. I saw the demon's claws go down towards him and knew that once it was done, it'd come after me. If I wanted to stay alive I had to leave_ now _._

 _And so, I ran with Mitarai's piercing scream cutting the air right behind me._

I jolted up in my bed, my heart beating fast like it was about to burst. Normally I could barely remember my dreams when I woke up, but this one I did, down to every single detail, of that I was pretty sure. Gosh, this whole demons and spirits -thing was really getting to me it seems.

Sighing, I laid down again, closing my eyes with a hand over them. Before I drifted back to sleep I made up my mind; I knew what I'd say to Koenma.

I would become a spirit detective.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The next day after school I went directly to Mitarai's place; I needed to tell him before I changed my mind. I knew that accepting the offer might be a mistake, but this was the only way I could be of any help to Mitarai. I owed him this after all he's done for me.

…And there were some selfish motives in this too, but I really was doing this partly for him. Even if he wasn't going to like it.

"You have to reconsider" was what Mitarai said to me when I told him of my decision. As rude as it was, I just rolled my eyes at him.

"I have already considered this enough" I told him "This is what I decided."

"Takanishi-"

"Yes?" I interrupted him with a harsh look, daring him to continue. We stared at each other for a long while before he sighed.

"You have no idea what you're getting in to" he said "But it seems I won't be able to stop you."

"Unless you plan to do it physically, no" I told him, making him snort.

"Like I even could in my current condition" he said, and it was true. He _was_ more or less sitting up now, but he was propped up against a punch of pillows, so I suppose he wouldn't be able to do it on his own, at least not for long "Just promise me something."

This could mean trouble, but I'll at least listen what he has to say before shooting it down completely.

"What?"

"Don't try to act like some cliché hero. If you face an opponent too strong, run. Koenma can always send someone else after the ones you can't handle" Mitarai said. He was probably right, but most likely I would've never done anything like that anyway. Unlike comic book heroes, I was no saint.

"Of course not; that's not my way of doing things" I assured him. Narrowing my eyes, I added: "How about _you_ promise _me_ the same?"

"…" he averted his eyes, not answering, so I decided to press him "Mitarai?"

"…I promise to try" he finally said. As vague as that promise was, I was aware that it was most likely the best I could get. I wouldn't press him more, not now at least.

"So, are you going to contact them now?" I asked him, but he shook his head. I raised an eyebrow, wanting him to explain. Getting the hint, he said: "I'll do it tomorrow; we can let Koenma sweat about this for one more night, can't we?"

I suppose we can, even if it is a bit mean.

"Sure" I said with a shrug. Finally sitting down on his chair, I asked: "So, got any tips or useful stories about the job? I don't think starting the job completely obvious to whatever is included to it is a good idea."

"Shouldn't you have thought of that _before_ you said you'd take the job?" he asked and I shrugged.

"If I had said it first you probably wouldn't have told me anything or would've tried to scare me so I wouldn't take the job" I told him. Putting on as innocent face as he could muster, Mitarai asked: "Who, me? I'd never do that!"

"Right, and I never space out" I said, leaning forward, supporting my elbows on my knees "So, those stories?"

"Sure, just let me think a moment" he said. After a while he started: "Well there was this one time…"

XXXXX

The next day after school I went directly home and almost got a heart attack as I stepped in to my room.

"What the hell Botan!?" I screamed as I was greeted with the blue haired woman's face few centimeters from my own as soon as I opened the door "What are you doing in my room!?"

"Your mom let me in" she said, taking a few steps back so we were no longer in danger of pumping our heads together "Nice lady, that one. A bit overly cautious if you ask me; took me a while to convince her that I was your friend. Had to mention Mitarai and how he was bedridden now and that we had agreed to meet at your place today to come up with something to cheer him up but that I apparently remembered our meeting time wrong which is why you weren't home yet and- "

"Botan, shut up" I snapped, not sure if I understood even half of what she said. She spoke too much and too fast. She did as I said, blinking twice. I sighed, carelessly throwing my bag on my bed "Now, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, well Mitarai said that you agreed to the job, so Koenma sent me to give you this" she said, holding out something round and small. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was definitely like the one Mitarai always used. I took the object, inspecting it. It looked like a folded mirror… opening it, I found out that that was exactly what it was. Or at least it looked like one very much, but I wasn't stupid enough to just assume that at this point "What is this exactly?"

"It's called a communication mirror" Botan said "It's kinda like a phone, but much handier since its smaller and you won't be needing phone lines or anything."

"I've seen Mitarai with one…" I muttered, not taking my eyes off the mirror "How do I use this thing? And where does it connect to in the first place?"

"Well it depends on the mirror. Yours can contact Mitarai and myself. Mine on the other hand has access to every communication mirror on the area, like the one that Yusuke, who was a spirit detective before Mitarai, uses." she told me, reaching out to touch the device "And if you press here- "

I could hear some ridiculous pop song start playing, but it wasn't coming from the mirror. It was coming from Botan's pocket. The woman dug out her own mirror, flipping it open.

"Now take a look at yours" she said and as I did so I could see Botan's face replacing the part where the reflective glass had been. Like a video recording, but real time. Cool, not to mention super modern. I suppose Spirit World keeps up with the modern world despite being an ancient place… or more like it's ahead of it "You can see me and I can see you."

Just a phone might've been better; I wouldn't have needed to feel self-conscious about my appearance…

"Do I contact Mitarai the same way?" I asked. Not that I really needed to know yet; as long as I could help it I wasn't going to let him get involved in any of this before he could recover… but it was nice to know so that I wouldn't contact him by accident, especially in some dire situation that I didn't want him involved in.

"Yes, but you press the other side" she said "And if the need to add more contacts ever comes then that is possible too. We just didn't think that you'd need anyone else for the time being."

I nodded, a bit dismissive as I kept inspecting the mirror. How did this thing work, exactly? I doubted it wasn't with batteries… some form of spirit energy, maybe? I voiced my suspicions to Botan. She smiled and said: "Bingo! And it can only be used by someone with a high enough spirit awareness; your mother wouldn't be able to use it and even if she caught you using it she wouldn't see or hear anything that comes from the other end of the line!"

"So, she'd simply see me talking to my own reflection?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Botan laughed a little sheepishly, saying: "Well, yes, but you could always tell her you were practicing for a play or something."

Right, my mom would totally buy that… not. I would just have to be careful when I use the thing.

"And you'll contact me with this when there's a job to be done?" I asked for clarification, just in case. Hopefully there wouldn't be a job to do too soon, though.

"Yup!" Botan said "But actually, there's something Koenma told me that we should handle today…"

She trailed off as I stared at her blankly. Was she kidding me? Today? _Now?_ I get it that demons won't wait to cause trouble when it fits my schedule, but why would Koenma sent me out the second I agree to work for him? Surely, he should have someone else to handle this instead of giving me my first assignment so soon… had he no commonsense?

Well, it can't be helped, I guess. I will just have to adapt to the situation; no use in complaining now. I've made my choice and now I have to live with it…

…Is what I kept telling myself in order not to snap at Botan. In reality I was pretty pissed. Mitarai really was some kind of saint for being able to put up with these people, wasn't he?

"Are you angry?" Botan asked, snapping me out of it. Of course, I was angry, but I suppose none of this was her fault. Don't kill the messenger, as they say.

"Definitely" I confessed. Seeing her starting to sweat as she glanced from side to side repeatedly, I added: "But I highly doubt this was your idea, so just tell me where we need to go and what we need to do and let's get this over with. I'll just give Koenma a piece of my mind the next time I see him."

From her face I'd say Botan didn't exactly like the last part, but since she didn't comment on it I decided to let the subject be for the time being, too.

"Right" she said "Well, the faster we get there the better, so I'll tell you on the way, okay?"

"Sure" I said, fighting back a sigh. Hopefully this first job wouldn't be _too_ dangerous.

XXXXX

"So basically, I will have to talk this demon in to coming with you to the Spirit World so that you can take him to a trial and if he refuses I have to knock him out so that you can take him with you and get him to the trial?" I asked from Botan as we walked in a quieter part of the city, aiming for an almost abandoned area that wouldn't have eyewitnesses.

"That's right" Botan said cheerfully "This one is simply in the Human World without permission and has yet to do any other crimes, so his sentence will be light. It's good to mention that."

"Right" I said "And when it comes to this demon's strength- "

"He's not too powerful" Botan cut me off before I had a chance to finish "So there shouldn't be anything to worry about; even if you end up needing to fight you should do just fine."

Yeah, shouldn't be and should be. Not wouldn't be or would be; Botan wasn't entirely convinced that I could handle this, not that she had a reason to be. I may have been able to help out against a demon once, but luck had played a huge part that time. Then again it was probably better this way; the weaker they saw me as the weaker opponents they sent me after, right?

"We're here" Botan half-whispered, making me freeze. Already!? I wasn't mentally prepared for this!

…Ugh, stop complaining, you loser! You agreed to this on your own; you can't back down now.

With a deep breath I joined Botan, who was peeking around the corner. The demon wasn't far from us, maybe about ten or so meters. Fortunately, it had its back turned to us. It looked surprisingly human, dressing as any human might with its jeans and leather jacket. The hair, black and short, didn't stand out either and as far as I could tell his skin color was normal. A bit pale maybe, but normal. However, I had no doubt that the being was not human; the tiny red horns on its head kind of gave it away… and that tail, also red, looking like the ones you see devils having in religious drawings. I suppose who ever started drawing them in such a way back in the days had ran in to a demon or two, then.

"Can you feel the demon energy?" Botan asked me, this time actually whispering. I blinked, not having even paid attention to it, but now that she mentioned it, I didn't. Frowning, I concentrated a little harder, realizing that it was indeed there. It wasn't the kind that was easy to notice like with the demon I had seen last time; I actually had to concentrate now. Was that good or bad? Was it so weak that I could barely notice it, or was it strong and smart enough to conceal its presence? I certainly hoped for the former rather than later… no, it _had to_ be the former; otherwise Koenma wouldn't have sent me, even if I did have Botan with me.

"Yeah, I feel it" I confirmed "So are we going now?"

"Yep" Botan said, stepping out of our hiding place and pulling me along with her. I think the demon heard our footsteps, for it turned around to face us. Aside from eerily yellow eyes, the thing really did look like a human from the face, too. A young human, maybe somewhere around twenties.

It stared at us, and we stared back. Exactly at what point should I say something?

"What do you humans want?" he said, and I supposed that was my cue. Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself to try to sound professional as I started: "Are you aware that you are in the Human World without permissi-"

"Yeah, I know" he interrupted me. That in itself was annoying, but then he dared to say: "What of it?"

Wait, how do I answer that? Uh…

"Well?" the demon asked, raising an eyebrow. I could feel an embarrassed blush raising to my face. I had been mentally preparing myself for fights in the short time after agreeing to this, but just talking or negotiating with demons? I hadn't even _thought_ of that!

"Umm…" I did the best thing I could come up with at that moment. Turning my head, I said: "Botan?"

Taking the hint, the other woman stepped up, saying: "Because of your violation of the laws, we need you to come with us to the Spirit World for a trial."

Well, that was simple. How come I froze up like that? Saying that wouldn't have been hard!

My embarrassment quickly turned to annoyance again as the demon laughed.

"Really? Spirit World sent two little girls after me?" it laughed "Is the Spirit World ruler that understaffed or have the short years of peace sullied his brain."

"Both, probably" I muttered without really thinking it through, earning a look of surprise from the demon. Botan gasped loudly, looking at me like I had offended her personally. Well, I suppose I had, to a certain extent. She seemed to respect her boss a lot after all.

"Anyway, are you going to come willingly or- "

"Not a chance" the demon cut me off. Again "So will the two of you run along now or are we going to fight?"

Fight, naturally. Not just because it was my job, but because this creature was seriously starting to annoy me. It was, intentionally or not, making this personal. Scowling at it, I shifted in to a fighting stance, glad that I'd taken those self-defense classes.

"Fight it is I see" the demon said, taking a stance as well. Glancing slightly away from me, it asked: "Just you?"

Right, he was looking at Botan.

"She doesn't fight" I said, not that I was completely sure about that. Just assuming… but since Botan didn't come to join me I was probably right.

"So, she's the brain and you're the brawl?" the demon asked. I frowned, but then realized that it was more or less right, at least when it came to Spirit World stuff; Botan said what to do and then I go and do it… or at least attempt to do it. So yeah, maybe that was the case. No reason to say that aloud, though.

"How about you just drop it and focus at the task at hand" I barked at the demon, realizing right after that I should've just taken advantage of the fact that it was _slightly_ distracted and attacked already. Why did my mouth always have to work faster than my brain?

"If you insist" it said with a smirk before charging at me.

 **A.N: And in the next chapter we'll have, as you may have already guessed, an actual fight. I'm bad at writing fight scenes so it will probably be the hardest chapter I've written for this fic so far, but I promise to do my best.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

As the thing charged at me, I just dodged on instinct. What I had been taught was that if someone attacked you, you should try dodging and escaping first, so of course that reaction came naturally instead of trying to block him.

But I had also been taught how to fight in case I couldn't run for one reason or the other.

I was taught that when you're the one who is most likely physically weaker, you should first concentrate on dodging and blocking the hits coming your way, observing the opponent while at it. As I am a bit of an act first, think later -kind of person, this had sounded frustrating to me when I was first taught it. However, right now I was glad that the instructor had forced me to learn this basic style just like everyone else. Acting before thinking when it came to fighting was no good; I'll limit that to speaking.

…

Actually, I should probably learn to think before I speak, too. Well, that's a mission for another time.

The demon came at me again, aiming a punch at my face, but I dodged again. Botan and Koenma had been right; this demon _was_ weak, or slow at the very least. I was able to dodge it without too much difficulty after all.

"You're fast for a human" it commented after it barely missed me with its kick "But why aren't you attacking? Too weak after all?"

Maybe I _should_ attack; I would certainly get a hit in with my opponent being so slow… unless I was just being toyed with and the demon wasn't even being serious. No, better not to take the bait, at least not yet. I'd observe for a while longer, see if there'll be an opening.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" the blasted creature asked me. It really couldn't get any more obvious that the thing was taunting me. I had to admit that yes, it _was_ getting under my skin a bit, but I wasn't a fool. I wouldn't lose my cool because of some petty taunts.

The demon frowned, probably realizing that a tactic like that wouldn't work on me. Then it smirked, and I tensed. Had it not been serious so far? Had it been toying with me? I get the feeling that I need to concentrate more than ever; I can't get distracted, not for a single second.

"I get it now; _this_ is how you fight" the demon said, chuckling "You aren't strong, but you're fast, so you dodge and jump around, waiting for your target to tire out before you attack. Clever, very clever… when your opponent is slower than you, that is. Have you thought of what will happen if you face someone faster?"

What the heck? That was _not_ my way of fighting; this was simply a strategy I had chosen for the time being! …But it didn't need to know that. In fact, if it believed that relying on my speed and stamina, which weren't that good in the first place, was my way of fighting then that might work to my advantage. Better to play along and make it proud of its observation skills.

"I'm still working on that" I said "So far I'm doing fine like this, don't you think?"

"Unfortunately for me, yes you are" it admitted with a chuckle "Which is why I won't be staying around to wait for you to do even better. See ya!"

And with that the demon ran away. I blinked, not believing my eyes. Seriously? A _demon_ just ran away from _me_? And here I had been worried that I might end up having to run away from my first target!

"Let's go after him, Yuri!" Botan yelled to me "We both noticed he's not too fast; we can still catch up!"

Right, we can. Letting it escape wouldn't be as embarrassing as having to run away, but I'd still like to avoid that. I don't want Mitarai telling me "I told you so."

With that in mind I sprinted after the demon with Botan right behind me. Thank god, we were deep in the quieter area; if it managed to sneak in to crowds of people I wouldn't be able to do anything without getting some unwanted attention, not to mention it could turn in to a hostage situation.

Thankfully, we hadn't lost sight of the demon and we were already catching up. Or at least I was; seems like I was faster than Botan, as well. That kind of raised my self-esteem a little; she was a professional at this, yet I seemed to be doing better. That was nice, yet also a little worrying. How much help would she really be of if I needed it?

…I shouldn't think of it now; it'll just disturb me. I just need to remember to ask her once this is over.

The demon turned a corner, and I rounded it just in time to see where it ran from there. I need to catch it before it outsmarts me… I could run a little faster, put in all I can, but it'll tire me out easily… then again, the chances of me losing sight of the thing are growing every moment. If I'm going to do something, I have to do it now.

"Catch up with me when you can!" I yelled to Botan without looking back. Not waiting for her answer, I sprinted ahead at full speed. I covered the distance between me and the demon pretty fast, catching up with it. Managing to get a hold of the collar of its jacket, I said: "I got you now!"

"No" it disagreed. I could hear the smirk in its voice " _I_ got _you_."

What?

The thing acted surprisingly fast. It spun around, landing its fist to my unexpecting face. The pain and surprise made me let go and I landed on my back on the ground. I touched my nose; it hurt a lot, but I don't think its broken. The hit was lighter than I had expected; this demon didn't seem to be as strong as the one Mitarai defeated a few days ago. That was good, I should still have a chance. No reason to panic.

I tried to get up, but the demon kicked my legs from under me and I landed on my back again. This time the demon made a move before I could even attempt to get up; it stepped right on my stomach with a painful force. I coughed, struggling to breath. This has taken an ugly turn and I didn't like it even a bit.

"You may be fast, but you have a weak body" the demon said before stomping on my stomach again "Not to mention you aren't very smart after all… or perhaps you are a very unexperienced fighter?"

It stomped on my stomach again, and this time I tasted iron in my mouth. I coughed up blood.

"Either way, you do seem to have some potential" the demon said with a sigh, finally putting its foot down "And if that potential gets a chance to grow, you'll become a strong dog of the Spirit World. That would be troublesome for the likes of me, don't you think?"

I didn't know what to say to that, not that I even tried to say anything. I was too busy rolling over to my stomach, which hurt like hell by the way, and trying to get on all fours. I was slow, but I was managing. I could get on my feet if the demon wouldn't interrupt me, but I doubted that would happen… where the heck was Botan? I could use some help here!

That goddamn creature was just standing there, watching me struggle as I tried to get back on my feet. It didn't seem to be planning to attacking me yet; did it actually _want_ to fight me? Or did it just enjoy seeing me struggle? From the little I knew about demons, both seemed rather likely.

As I finally did get to my feet, the demon said: "How about you just give up and go home? Even if you are capable of becoming a threat, you're not worth a shit right now; I have no reason to kill you."

I raised an eyebrow. Was this sadistic creature that had been stomping on my stomach just minutes ago planning on letting me just walk away? I highly doubt that; it sounded like a trap. However, as I spit out some blood, I seriously considered the option. I had promised Mitarai to not play the hero and put myself in unnecessary danger. I was injured, and my opponent was strong and dangerous. Since I did have a chance to leave, unless it was a trap, wouldn't staying to fight go against that promise?

"Well?" the demon asked, crossing its arms. The idea of running away was honestly tempting, but thinking about Mitarai got me to realize something: if I didn't defeat this thing now, someone else would have to do it later. And Koenma might just decide that that someone should be Mitarai.

I _do not_ like that possibility.

"Fine" I said to it, starting to walk away, yet I did it backwards, just in case the demon changed its mind and decided to attack me after all. It didn't take its eyes off of me, but it didn't move to attack, either. I suppose it was keeping an eye on me for the same reason I was walking backwards… so I suppose that, in a way, we were on the same wave length at the moment.

…What a disturbing thought.

After twenty or so meters, it seemed to think I was far enough as it turned around and started to walk away. Ha!

The god damn creature fell for it!

I sprinted forward as fast as I could, determined to take the demon by surprise and take it down. I was only few centimeters away from its unsuspecting back before it suddenly turned around. I could see it's angry scowl before it grabbed my outstretched, ready to punch arm and twisted it behind my back before pushing me to the ground.

"You can't play a player, girl" I heard it say "You sure are naïve. Does the Spirit World not train its dogs?"

Nope, it didn't. Certainly not me at least, but that might just be a plan for the future… even if it was I was in deep shit right now.

"I really _was_ going to let you go" my supposed target said "But now I get the feeling that if I give you another chance you'll just throw it away anyway, so why bother?"

I did _not_ like the sound of that.

I struggled to break free, tried to kick the demon and remove its hand with my free hand, but it was no use. I couldn't see it properly from the position I was in, but judging from how it felt I'd say the thing was pinning me to the ground with its knee. Great, my back was going to have a big bruise for sure. Coming to the conclusion that I couldn't free myself like this, I decided to change my tactic.

"You sure you aren't just scared of a human girl?" I asked the thing. Annoying it was risky, but there was a chance that becoming angry would make it careless and that was what I was counting on here.

Hopefully, it would work.

"Scared? Not really" it said calmly. Well, it would've been too easy if it had completely lost it with just that "I am simply logically cautious."

"So, it's logical for a demon to be cautious of a human female?" I tried again, pressing further "Really?"

"Yes, really" it replied. I might have wondered if I had imagined the slight edge in his voice, but the tightening grip on my wrist told me that I hadn't. Just one more push!

"Tell me one thing" I asked, smirking despite knowing it couldn't see my face "Is it logical to do so for all demons or just the scrawny ones?"

Silence. For a moment nothing happened and I feared that I had gone too far across the line with that one. What if I made it furious instead of angry? The idea didn't sound too good… gosh, where the hell is Botan!?

"Well, beggars can't be choosers you know" it said suddenly with a sigh, catching me completely off guard. Was it not angry at all? "Those who underestimate their enemies are fools, but those who already _know_ they're weak and still underestimate their opponents are stupid even beyond that and are just begging for death, are they not?"

…Was it mocking _me_ now? That had to be it; it's not like it could be talking about itself… right?

"I am not so stupid that I'd let a seemingly weak enemy go" it said. Without thinking I replied: "Well you were about to do so just a few minutes ago, weren't you?"

I could feel the grip on my wrist tightening again and its knee digging on my back. Bad move, Yuri, bad move!

"It was a small moment of not thinking straight on my part" it said, hissing: "I assure you, it won't happen again."

I would prefer if it did, that's for sure.

"Then again, if I kill a dog of the spirit world there is no way they'll leave me alone" it said again. At this point I couldn't decide if the fact that this thing was smart was a good thing or not "So what the hell am I supposed to do now, hm?"

"Surrender?" I suggested "I'll tell them you came peacefully."

"Not happening" the thing deadpanned "I'd rather take my chances with being chased down for the rest of my life."

Wait wait wait, did that mean it had decided to kill me?! Oh god, where the hell was Bo-

Right then I heard a loud crash and the weight leaves my back as the grip on my wrist loosens before letting go completely. I get up on all fours, looking behind me to see what had happened. Botan was standing there with a pipe in her slightly trembling hands. Looking to the side I found the demon on the ground, most likely unconscious.

"Are you alright, Yuri?" Botan asked, dropping the pipe. I nodded, still a bit out of it.

"Yeah" I said, getting on my feet rather unsteadily "Yeah, I'm okay."

I was a little dizzy and had difficulty staying up, but my mind was starting to clear up. Looking at Botan, I asked: "What took you so long?"

There was _no way_ it took this long for her to catch up… unless she got lost of course, but somehow, I doubted that. It just didn't fit the picture.

Botan looked a bit guilty, averting her eyes from mine. Then, she replied: "I was just waiting for a chance; I'm not exactly a fighter you know."

"Yeah, I figured" I deadpanned "But wouldn't it be smarter of Koenma to have a fighter to help an amateur like me? You're more of a delivery girl than anything."

Seriously, I could've died just now. Actually, I think I would have if Botan hadn't come forward or had done so just a bit later so in a way I owed her, but truth to be told I was kind of pissed. I knew this was going to be dangerous and all, but I had expected Botan to be a bit more helpful.

"He would if he had anyone to spare" Botan told. To me it sounded like she was more eager to defend Koenma than herself "And delivery girl is actually pretty close to my actual occupation…"

Is that so…? No, I don't give a shit right now!

"Well next time you see Koenma, deliver him the message that he ought to find more capable assistants for his spirit detectives!" I went too far with that one, at least if the look on Botan's face was anything to go by. Still, I was too upset to really think or control the words that left my mouth: "Couldn't you have come and knocked the demon on the head a bit _sooner_? You had _plenty_ of chances!"

Botan looked really taken aback by this. At first, I thought she was angry, but at the next moment it looked like she was holding back tears.

"I'm trying my best" she said quietly, looking down "I really am."

"Well how about trying harder?" I should shut up now, I really should "You've been doing this for years, haven't you? Pull yourself together for crying out loud!"

"You think this is easy for me?!" she screamed right back "Having my partner, who I've known and worked with for years, bedridden and having to work with someone new while worrying about him!?"

…I had not thought of that; after finding out who Botan really was I had not paid a second thought to the relationship between her and Mitarai. I had assumed to them to be colleagues and nothing else.

"Do you think it's easy for me to focus here when I know that he might not recover? That if I'd gotten there faster, he might not have gotten poisoned at all!?" she had had similar thoughts as I had, it seems. Even so, my mind was clouded by my anger and my mouth worked faster than my mind, not separating the things I felt and the things I said from each other: "Well maybe he really _would_ be fine had you been of proper help!"

Now _that_ definitely went too far; it was like a dam had broken as Botan started crying. Her weeping was what slowly brought me back to my senses, making me realize what I had done. I should have apologized, right now it felt clear as day, but I didn't. I didn't get the words out and even if I did say it, it wouldn't change the fact that what I had said was exactly what I thought and Botan was smart enough to know that, of that I was sure. I know people make mistakes, at least the logical side of me does, but the emotional side kept screaming that Botan, Koenma and even I were at fault for what happened to Mitarai. It was easy to blame myself, which I had, but unfortunately, it was also easy to blame others.

Which I also had just done.

I just stood there, lost in my own thoughts as I waited for Botan to pull herself together. Some first mission I had; royally pissing off my partner and making her cry on top of that. Well, at least we caught the demo-

Wait.

I no longer had that uncomfortable feeling that I get when I run in to a demon.

Having a bad feeling, I slowly turned around. Just as I had expected, and feared, the demon was nowhere to be seen. When the hell had that blasted thing woken up? Where had it gone!? Frantically, I looked around hoping that it had just woken up and was too dizzy to move fast, but there was no such a luck.

It was gone.

 **A.N: Yuri's a bitch, I know. I just felt like that bitchy and bitter side of her that we more or less saw in "Air" needed to be let out for once. She's not a bad person though, just the type to speak before she thinks and she knows it, too.**


	20. Chapter 20

**A.N: Chapter 20! Didn't finish it in time for January, but here it is! I wanted this chapter to be up on the first anniversary of the fic, so I waited a few days after finishing it, but thanks to the poorly working website I was unable to publish it. Just my luck… well, even if it's a bit late, it's here!**

 **Chapter 20**

"You let him escape!?" Koenma screamed at Botan and I through the communication mirror. After I had noticed the demon was gone I had alerted still shaky Botan and we had split up to look for it, but had no luck. Part of me had been glad; I didn't want to face it again, but I had really hoped that this would be a success.

"It was my fault" I told him as apologetically as I could. I mean it was true; this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't distracted Botan "But to be fair, this was my first mission and only my third encounter with a demon and it's not like I've been trained to do these things, so can you really blame me? This is just about a beginner messing up!"

Was I too defensive? I mean, all I'm saying is true, but I know I sounded like a little brat who is trying to avoid scolding and judging from the look on Koenma's face he thought so, too. Then, much to my surprise, he sighed and said: "You're right; demanding for success from your first mission is a bit too much."

Huh, I suppose he can be reasonable, too.

"Just because the spirit detectives before you were all more or less successful on their first missions doesn't automatically mean you'd be, too" ouch, now I really wished I hadn't messed up "Not to mention they were all more experienced than you when they started… and talented as well."

Was he trying to piss me off or something? 'Cause if he was it sure was working!

"Well, enough with that." he said, looking pointedly at Botan "But what's your excuse? You've been doing this for years! How could you let her mess up?"

Botan looked away, and I honestly felt bad for her again. I shouldn't have yelled at her earlier, especially since she was now going to get a scolding from her boss.

"We underestimated the target, sir" was her formal, quiet reply. Koenma frowned, but I'm pretty sure that more than anything the look on his face was concern.

"Is everything alright? You're not acting yourself."

Botan tensed, I could see it clearly. Heck, _I_ tensed too; I was in trouble now. Well, much deserved trouble, but that didn't mean I liked it.

"Everything is just fine!" Botan said as she lifted her head, a bright and bubbly smile on her face. I stared, disbelieving. Had I not known what had happened, what I did, I would've completely fallen for it. She'd make a great actress!

Koenma stared at her for a while, not looking convinced, but then he shrugged… I think. The screen was really small.

"If you say so" he said "Normally I wouldn't be convinced, but I know you suck at lying."

 _What?_ Botan most certainly _did not_ suck at lying; I had just proven that with my own eyes! Or had she gotten over it this fast?

…Like hell that was possible. Apparently Koenma just didn't know her as well as he thought he did.

"Well, better luck next time" Koenma said "Botan will contact you when it's time for your next mission, Miss Takanishi. Hopefully you've healed from your injuries by then."

"Yeah, no kidding" I said. Hopefully I'd be able to hide them from mom "Until then."

Koenma nodded and the transmission was cut. Botan and I stood there in silence, an awkward one at that. I wanted to apologize, but I couldn't find the words. But I had to do it. This job was hard enough as it was; we couldn't make it even harder by letting the air between us be like this-

No, dammit! I should apologize because what I said was wrong, not because not doing so would put me in a disadvantage! God, have I always been such a horrible person? I had no right to say what I said even if I felt like it was all true!

"Botan-"

"Well it's time for me to go!" she cut me off, that most likely fake cheerfulness still on "I'll contact you again when we have a case. Bye bye!"

And with that she run off.

XXXXX

I sighed in relief as I finally got to collapse on my bed. The way home had been thankfully uneventful, I had feared I'd run in to the demon again after all, and no one was home when I got there so I was able to hide my injuries. Lucky me… well, with all the shit that happened today it's only fair that I get at least a tiny bit of luck.

Speaking of all the shit that has happened, I should probably contact Botan. I needed to clear the air between us before it was too late, assuming it already wasn't of course. But what would I say if she did pick up the phone-, er, communicator? I don't think a simple "sorry" was going to do it. But what else was I supposed to say? No matter how I thought of it, everything else I could come up with sounded like poor excuses.

I sighed, my eyes landing on the My Little Pony -poster. Again. I really needed to take that thing down… would do that tomorrow, I swear. Go shopping to buy something to replace it and finally get rid of the thing. No more laughs from Mitarai, or anyone else for that matter.

With these thoughts I drifted off to restless sleep.

XXXXX

It was now Monday, lunchbreak at school, and I had yet to contact Botan. I was _not_ lazy; I had _tried_ calling her with the communication mirror, but she hadn't picked up! I suppose she was pretty mad at me… and I can't blame her. Still, she could at least answer and yell at me or something; it would certainly make me feel better.

…No, damn it! Bad Yuri! This wasn't about me feeling better; _I_ need to make _her_ feel better because of what I've done, not the other way around! I'm such a terrible person…

"Hey, Takanishi!"

…Not that I'm match for _that_ bitch. I turned my face towards Hatsumomo and her two little followers, raising an eyebrow. I honestly didn't feel like dealing with her shit right now, but it's not like I had anywhere else to be at. Maybe she could at least distract my thoughts a little bit…

"What?" I asked her. Either it'd be something completely stupid that I could laugh about later or she'd manage to piss me off enough to distract me, so I should get some use out of this… I think.

"Rumors say that you and Yukiro are back together" she said, and I froze, barely maintaining my semi-bored poker face "What do you have to say about that?"

Hatsumomo was asking more questions and giving some kind of rant… I think. I couldn't really tell; my mind was too occupied at the moment. Me and Moku? Getting back together? There was no way that could _ever_ happen, so who the hell was spreading a rumor like that!?

Was it Moku himself? Why would he bother? Was he so bored with his life that he wanted some fun game out of this or something? Or was Usui messing with me? No, while he too went to this school, we haven't been in any contact; he probably didn't even know I was here… or did he? But if he did, why would he bother doing this? He had no reason to torment me, did he? Wait, could this just be something Hatsumomo came up with on her own to pick on me for one reason or the other? Yes, that would make sense. I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything to really piss her off lately, but then again, she had always hated me, so maybe she was just bored and saw me as a good target… or maybe she had wanted to do something to me for a while already yet only came up with something now. It wouldn't be that weird; she wasn't the brightest person on the planet. But why'd she chooses to say something like _that_? I mean of course she knew that Moku was my ex and bringing up someone's ex often riled them up, but… was that all? Or did she know something more? If she did, who had told her?

I had hard time keeping my thoughts together as my mind was taken over by a storm, and I only came to my senses and snapped back to reality when the bell rang. Naturally, Hatsumomo and her friends were long gone.

XXXXX

I was still rather absentminded when I got home. Throwing my bag in to a corner, I collapsed to my desk, thinking of what to do. _Should_ I even do anything? Would it be smarter to just ignore the rumors and Hatsumomo completely? …No, I have a feeling that I need to keep my eyes and ears open, just in case. The rumor could be just some kind of misunderstanding, but if it wasn't then who ever had started it was probably planning something, something that involved _me_ and something I wouldn't like. It's better to keep my guard up.

…Should I tell Mitarai about this? Wait, no, he has enough worries with his recovery and even if he didn't, what could I say? We never really talked about, well, our high school days so bringing this up would be selfish. I can't just run to him for help… right?

No, definitely not. He had his own problems; I shouldn't add more to them. Besides, I'm no longer the same as I was in high school. If Moku or anyone else tried something, I could defend myself now. If it came down to it I could it even use my spirit energy to defend myself.

…Was that allowed? Using spirit energy against other humans? Mitarai would know something was up if I asked, so it was better not to. I'd just do it if I had to and worry about consequences afterwards, whatever they may be.

I sighed, getting up from my seat. While doing so I accidentally knocked down the My Little Pony -poster from my desk. Right, I had taken it down and put it there after putting an ocean view painting on its place. Didn't even have to buy it; I noticed it in the living room this morning as mom was cleaning the closet. Apparently, it was something she had painted in her younger years and was delighted to hear that I liked it, so she let me take it. Not that I was really that fond of it; while it was probably better than what I could do, it was still clearly amateurish. There was no way I could've told that to her, though, so I just thanked her and went back to my room after grabbing the tool kit from our tiny garage. I wasn't really good with my hands, but I managed to get a nail on the wall fast enough and got the painting in place before having to go to school. Now I would just have to get rid of the poster.

…

Well, maybe not. I can keep it, just need to make sure it'll stay out of other people's sight. And by other people I mostly mean Mitarai, naturally. I took it and put it in my desk drawer. Mitarai wasn't the kind of guy who'd go through them and if against all expectations he did, I could quilt trip him for not respecting my privacy. Yep, sounded like a plan.

But now I better pay him a visit and show him that I'm fine; that I got out alive from my first mission. A bit bruised, sure, but alive. Besides, I could move normally as long as I didn't need to run or make any sudden movements, which was odd by the way, so he probably wouldn't even notice.

XXXXX

When I got to Mitarai's place I was surprised to see Botan there, but maybe I shouldn't have been. They were colleagues, probably friends, and Botan had a bone to pick with me, so she might have thought of getting Mitarai to help. Great, just great.

"Good to see you're okay, Takanishi. I heard things didn't go so well" I was expecting a I-told-you-so -look to appear on Mitarai's face along with a smirk, but to my surprise it wasn't there. Just… concern? Well, I suppose this really wasn't something to joke and bitch about.

"Yeah, I messed up" I confessed "Although I'm not in nearly as much pain as I should be from the beating I took; is that a spirit energy thing?"

Mitarai blinked, looking rather surprised. Was it because I didn't _look_ beaten up? Or because I admitted to messing up? Yeah, that could be it. However, when he turned a displeased gaze at Botan and raised an eyebrow, I realized that there was something I didn't know, something that Mitarai had assumed I did.

Wonderful.

Botan looked away as Mitarai looked at her, clearly uncomfortable. No one said anything for a while before Mitarai broke the silence: "Botan, did you not tell her?" When she didn't answer, he added: "Actually, something's a bit fishy here. What did you not tell _me_?"

"Ehheh, well…" Botan laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head "I told you the truth… except I might have left out a _tiny_ little detail…"

Truth about what? What little detail? Seriously, what was I missing? They should let me in the loop, especially when it had something to do with me! I crossed my arms, saying: "I feel like no one's told _me_ anything. Care to share what I'm missing?"

Botan looked at me, but it wasn't the same nervous look she gave to Mitarai. I mean it was nervous alright, even more so than with Mitarai, but there was something else mixed in, too… fear? I'd really gone overboard last time, hadn't I?

"The reason why you feel better than you think you should is because Botan healed your most severe injuries" Mitarai said, frowning "Or at least that's what she told me she did. Did she leave something out?"

"I didn't even know she _could_ do something like that" I admitted, wondering why no one had said anything. Then, I realized what he said "And I don't recall her healing me, unless that can be done without touching and from a distance."

I don't know if that kind of stuff was possible, but at this point it really wouldn't be so surprising if it was.

Mitarai looked alarmed, which in turn made me nervous. Was this bad? If Botan hadn't healed me and yet I was able to move like this, what the heck had happened? Gosh, why didn't I realize something was wrong faster!?

"Botan-"

"It's not what you think!" she hurried to say, waiving her hands around "Not what you think at all! It's just, uh… well, she just didn't notice when I healed her is all!"

Mitarai visibly relaxed, but still seemed to be a bit sceptic. Raising an eyebrow, he asked: "And exactly what do you mean by that?"

"We~ll I kind of did it as she… slept."

She _what!?_ Wait, I hadn't fallen asleep on duty, so _when_ did she do that?

"You passed out?" Mitarai asked me, worry clearly lacing his voice.

"No!" I denied quickly, despite not being entirely sure. It was unlikely, but possible. What if I had really passed out? "I mean I don't think I did… did I?"

"No no, I came to your house at night as you slept" Botan assured. She did _what_? "Fortunately, unlike Mitarai here, you aren't a light sleeper. I would've hated to wake you after such a hard day!"

"You did what?" I asked, barely registering what she had said afterwards "You _broke in to my house_?"

Botan eeped, inching a few steps back. Was I being intimidating or something? Well if I was, good! There was a limit to what I could tolerate and what not!

"It's not like I broke or stole anything" the woman defended herself "And it was for a good cause…"

"Why didn't you do it directly after the case like you always do with me?" Mitarai asked, making me freeze. I knew instantly, or at least I think I had a pretty good idea, why. It was no wonder she hadn't wanted to stick around after what I'd said. What _was_ weird that she didn't seem to have told Mitarai yet… or was she simply not the kind of person to tattle? I kind of hoped so, even if I really would've deserved it.

"Oh, I was just a bit distracted is all" Botan finally said, laughing nervously as she scratched her head. Worst liar ever; how had Koenma not seen through her act was beyond me. I highly doubted that Mitarai was so easily fooled, though.

And it seems I was right. He frowned as he looked at Botan before moving his gaze to me, narrowing his eyes. I wanted to look away, I really did, but held his gaze in order to ease his suspicions. I don't know if I was successful or not, but in the end, he did drop it.

"Fine, don't tell me then" he said with a sigh. And then he smirked. At me. What the heck was going through his head right now that brought up that mischievous smirk? …Did I even want to know? "So, Botan, did you see anything _interesting_ while visiting Takanishi?"

What the heck was he getting at? There's nothing interesting in my room, at least not anything that should make him ask it like that. Unless… oh, haha, very funny. He still hasn't dropped it? Geez…

I glanced at Botan, who seemed to be thinking it through. Maybe her idea of "interesting" wasn't the same as Mitarai-

"Oh!" Botan let out suddenly, clearly remembering something "She did have quite cute poster on the wall, certainly not the kind I would've expected to find from _her_ room!"

Mitarai burst out laughing and I'm pretty sure I made a face as I glared at him. Seriously? Did we need to talk about _this_ again? Thank god, I took it down already; at least I don't have to deal with this situation a third time!

"It is interesting, really" Botan continued "I mean you seem more like the tomboyish and dark type, so- "

"Enough already" I interrupted her "It was an old thing from my childhood that I used to cover a dent in the wall; it was only temporary and I've thrown it away now. End of the freaking topic!"

I glared at Botan as she was about to say something, not wanting to hear it. Fortunately, my glare shut her up. Sighing, I asked her: "Why are you here? You're not planning on making Mitarai work already, are you?"

"What? No no, of course not!" she denied, waving her hands around "I have a job for _you_!"

I raised an eyebrow at that, asking: "Then why didn't you just call me with the communication mirror?"

Or answer one of my calls… but I didn't ask that since I thought I might already know the answer and not like it. And I didn't want to talk about it in front of Mitarai.

"I tried, but you didn't pick up" what? "Did you forget how to use it?"

What did she mean? It had definitely not rung or anything… or had it? Did I really just not know how to use it properly? No, that can't be right, I had definitely not forgotten how to call with it, so Botan _should_ have answered…

"No, I'm pretty sure I know how to use it" I said, fishing the thing out from my bag "Are you sure _you_ were calling the right number? Or whatever it is that these things use?"

"There's no way; I've been using these for years!" she denied.

"Maybe it's broken?" Mitarai suggested. Botan and I looked at him and then at each other, both of us probably thinking the same thing: it would make sense. I mean it had been in my pocket during the fight, so it wouldn't be weird at all if it had broken.

"Let me see that" Botan said. I handed the mirror to her and the blue haired woman examined it for a while before stating: "Yup, it's broken. Ah well, I'll have it fixed."

Broken. Ok, at least I hadn't messed up using it. That also explained why Botan hadn't answered. Or maybe she wouldn't have answered even if it had worked… nah, she probably would have. Why else would she be acting so normal now? Wait, it's not like I knew what she was like normally; I didn't know her so well, so she might just as well be really mad or upset right now and just keeping up an act. A very good act, mind you.

"Takanishi, are you- "

"I'm not spacing out" I interrupted Mitarai, knowing full well what he planned to say "So what's the job?"

"I'll tell you on the way since we should hurry" Botan said, running to the door. I raised an eyebrow, but followed after her, ignoring Mitarai's "You're leaving me out the loop on purpose, aren't you!?" -yell. He's getting a taste of his own medicine now.

I just hope things will go better for us this time.

 **A.N: So, a bit info: this fic is going on hiatus for the time being. I'm not dropping it or anything, but since this fic isn't going exactly as I first planned I need some time to think the plot through since when I first started I only had a very rough idea of what to do with this story. I should've thought the plot out more carefully. Another reason is that I want to focus on some of my older fics for a while, perhaps even finish them during this year… or at least one of them. In any case, I don't know yet when the hiatus will be over, so just keep your eyes open, okay?**


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